STAR Plus

World Screen Weekly, December 21, 2006

COUNTRY: India

LAUNCH DATE: 1991

OWNERSHIP: STAR, News Corporation’s Asian arm

NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS: 68 million

DISTRIBUTION: STAR Plus is available on cable and satellite platforms across India. It is also carried on select pay-TV operators in Singapore, the U.K., the U.S., the Middle East and parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.

DESCRIPTION: STAR Plus has been India’s top-rated Hindi-language general-entertainment network for the past six years, with a range of dramas, comedies, game shows and Bollywood movies. Its shows consistently make up more than 40 out of the top 50 titles on cable and satellite TV in India.

CEO, STAR ENTERTAINMENT INDIA: Sameer Nair

EXECUTIVE VP, CONTENT & COMMUNICATION: Deepak Segal

CREATIVE HEAD: Shailja Kejriwal

GENERAL MANAGER,

CONTENT & COMMUNICATION: Harsh Rohatgi

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: When it first launched, in 1991, STAR Plus was positioned as an English-language network, delivering imported programming from the U.K. and the U.S. STAR became a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation in 1995, and the channel’s new owners soon realized that in key markets like India, it would need locally relevant fare, in Hindi, in order to make a dent in the nascent cable and satellite market. As part of a pact with Zee Telefilms, STAR was prohibited from airing more than half of its content in Hindi, leaving Zee TV to dominate the ratings. In 2000, News Corporation opted to relinquish its stake in Zee and go it alone. In July 2000, STAR Plus was relaunched as a Hindi-language channel with a show that many say altered India’s cable and satellite universe: Kaun Banega Cropepati (KBC). This local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, hosted by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, became an instant hit, elevating STAR Plus to the top of the cable-and-satellite pack in India.

According to Sameer Nair, the CEO of Star Entertainment India, the channel represents “wholesome family entertainment. India is primarily a single-television-household [market], and the television is often the only source of entertainment for a vast majority of people.”

Anchoring the channel’s prime-time schedule has been a slate of family-friendly Hindi-language serials, most notably Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, from Balaji Telefilms. This Mumbai-based production outfit, in which STAR today owns a 26-percent stake, has contributed a number of other hits to the STAR Plus schedule, including Kasautii and, most recently, Karam Apna Apna.“These shows are uniquely positioned,” Nair says, “but each of them has very strong protagonists who often reflect popular culture, yet are rooted in tradition. In fact, some of our protagonists often act as vanguards of change—be it in fashion or values.”

Other key programs for the network—Nair says about 90 percent of STAR Plus’s schedule consists of original productions—include Antariksh: Ek Amar Katha. Launched October 2, the series is a science-fiction reimagining of the ancient Hindu text The Ramayana, with an epic battle of good and evil taking place in outer space.

Offering a diverse range of original programming—from the religious dramas Saarthi and Sai Baba to more contemporary fare like K. Street Pali Hill aimed at India’s growing middle class—has been crucial to STAR’s success. “India is on the cusp of major changes—be it in the urban metropolises, the vast hinterland or even the hamlets of rural India,” Nair says. “All of India is moving towards a decade of increasing prosperity and unparalleled growth. It is on this fabric that STAR Plus paints a [picture] that unites India in how it wants to get entertained.”

WHAT’S NEW: In addition to STAR Plus in India, the company operates STAR One, focused on upscale, urban viewers; STAR Utsav, which taps into STAR’s library of original content; the Hindi movie offering STAR Gold; the music network Channel [V]; Vijay TV, offering content in Tamil; and the English-language STAR World and STAR Movies. According to Nair, STAR now plans to focus on its new-media offerings. The site Indya.com serves as a portal for all of STAR’s services in India, delivering schedule information, episode guides, contests, horoscopes and chat features. STAR 7827 is the company’s mobile-content platform, offering ring tones, wallpapers and other downloadable content. “We will soon be launching a host of initiatives in the mobile space with video downloads, streaming, voice, etc., and our Internet business will also exploit opportunities in the broadband and narrowband space with multiple brand offerings,” Nair says.

WEBSITE: starplus.indya.com

—By Mansha Daswani