STAR Scores Rogers Carriage Deal

TORONTO/MUMBAI: Four channels from STAR India have rolled out on Canadian cable platform Rogers Cable and will be followed by three Mandarin-language services from STAR Greater China later this month.

Rogers has already added three Hindi-language services (STAR ONE, STAR India GOLD and STAR India NEWS) and the Tamil entertainment channel STAR Vijay. STAR India Plus has been available in Canada since 2006. Later this month, the Mandarin-language STAR Chinese Channel, STAR Chinese Movies 2 and Channel [V] Taiwan make their Canadian debut.

"After attracting a strong following among the Asian diaspora in the U.S., we’re thrilled to partner with Rogers to launch our top-rated channels for viewers in Canada," said David Wisnia, STAR’s senior VP of distribution, sales and marketing and head of STAR’s North American and European offices. "This launch marks the debut of 24-hour STAR channels in Canada and makes STAR the largest provider of foreign television services to Rogers’ viewers. Now Canadian audiences will have seven new 24-hour channels from which to find fresh favourites, to entertain, inform and inspire."

"Rogers has long been committed to delivering the most variety and choice of multicultural programming to Canadians," said David Purdy, the VP of TV and video product management at Rogers Cable. "The South Asian and Chinese communities are extremely important to us and we are pleased to be delivering even more valued content to our customers."