Star India

Star India is an Indian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India.[1] It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It has a network of 60 channels in eight languages, reaching out to 9 out of 10 cable and satellite TV homes in India.[2] The network reaches approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries.[3] Star India generates more than 30,000 hours of content every year.[4] Star India is the largest Television & Entertainment network in India.

Contents

 * 1History
 * 1.1Founding
 * 1.21990–2000
 * 1.32001–2010
 * 1.42011–present
 * 2Business results
 * 3Divisions
 * 4Owned channels
 * 4.1On air channels
 * 4.1.1India
 * 4.1.2International
 * 4.2Upcoming channels[44][45][46]
 * 4.3Defunct/former channels
 * 5Novi Digital Entertainment
 * 6National Sports Network in India
 * 7Reception
 * 8See also
 * 9Notes
 * 10References
 * 11Further reading
 * 12External links

Founding[edit]
Star TV (Satellite Television Asian Region) was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between Hutchison Whampoa and Li Ka-Shing. It launched Hollywood English-language entertainment channels for Asian audiences.[5]

1990–2000[edit]
In 1990, Star TV included Star Plus (then an English-language entertainment channel), Prime Sports, MTV and BBC World Service Television.[5][6]

In 1992, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation purchased 63.6% of STAR for $525 million, followed by the purchase of the remaining 36.4% on 1 January 1993. Star broadcasting operations were run from Rupert Murdoch's Fox Broadcasting premises.[7][8] Murdoch declared that:[9]

Between 1994 and 1998, Star India was launched, later launched Star Movies, Channel V, and STAR News with a limited Hindi offering, and then Star Plus for Indian viewers.[10][11][12]

In 1998, STAR News was launched as a dedicated news channel with content from NDTV.[13]

2001–2010[edit]
In 2001, Star India acquired South India based Vijay TV.[14] In 2003, Star India's deal with NDTV ended and Star News was made into a 24-hour news channel. Disney bought it in 2009 for $2 Million or 2 Cnt venture (JV) with Anand Bazar Patrika Group to comply with the regulations set for uplinking of news and current affairs channels by the Government of India.[citation needed] It subsequently exited from this joint venture in 2012. After the split the channel was renamed to ABP News and operated by Anandabazar Patrika Group.[13]

In 2004, Star One was launched as a Hindi content channel.[15] In 2008, Star Jalsha, a Bengali language entertainment channel and Star Pravah, a Marathi language entertainment channel were launched.[16][17]

In 2009, Star India acquired Trivandrum, India based media conglomerate Asianet Communications Limited which served Malayalam language content.[18] In August 2009, the Star Group restructured its Asian broadcast businesses into three units – Star India, Star, and Fox International Channels Asia.[18]

In the same year, Star Affiliate and CJ Group of South Korea launched CJ Alive (later known as ShopCJ), a 24-hour Indian television shopping channel which used STAR Utsav for hosting the television marketing programs in six-hour slots in its initial stage of launch. Star Affiliate exited the joint venture in May 2014.[19] This venture was called Star CJ.

21st Century Fox launched a film production and distribution business in India through Fox Star Studios India, an affiliate of Star India in the same year.[20]

2011–present[edit]
In 2012, Star India acquired the BCCI Rights for India cricket for the period 2012 through 2018. ESPN was renamed Star Sports 4, Star Cricket was renamed Star Sports 3, Star Sports was renamed to Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 2 kept its name. STAR Cricket HD and ESPN HD were renamed to Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD2 respectively.[21][22][23][24][25]

In 2015, Star India launched its video-on-demand service, Hotstar (now Disney+ Hotstar) and forayed into online streaming.[26]

In 2015, Star India acquired broadcast businesses of Maa Television Pvt. Ltd to boost its presence in Telugu speaking markets where Star didn't have any presence before. By this acquisition, Star has a regional presence in the entire South Indian markets.[27]

In February 2017, Star India and global media conglomerate, TED, announced a new TV series, TED Talks India – Nayi Soch. Its programmes starred Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan and featured newer TED talks made in Hindi language. The programme followed the signature TED format of prominent speakers voicing their opinions in an 18-minute or less monologue in front of a live audience.[28][29]

On 28 August 2017, Star India replaced its Hindi Entertainment channel Life OK with a free-to-air channel Star Bharat.[30]

On 5 September 2017, Star India won the global media rights to broadcast Indian Premier League (IPL) for 5 years beginning in 2018. The company bid INR 163475.0 million to secure the rights from the previous broadcaster, Sony Pictures Network.[31]

Business results[edit]
In August 2012, Business Line of The Hindu group reported that STAR CJ Alive is claiming average sale of products worth Rs. 9.5 million on week days and Rs. 12 million on weekends.[40] Approximately 65% of the sales come from electronics segment while household segment stands second in the race. In December 2012, some sections of the media reported that Rupert Murdoch run News Corp may exit Star CJ by selling its entire stake to Providence Equity Partners.[41] This share transfer reportedly ran into trouble when the Department of Revenue discovered that funds from other jurisdictions were being channelised to exploit Indo Mauritius double taxation avoidance agreement.[42]

STAR India Entertainment provides 51 channels while STAR India Sports provides 17 channels.

Divisions[edit]

 * Star Media Networks
 * Star Sports
 * Star Media Networks South
 * Asianet Star Communications
 * Star Maa Media South
 * Fox Star Studios
 * Novi Digital Entertainment
 * Hotstar
 * Mashal Sports (74%)
 * Pro Kabaddi league[43]
 * Football Sports Development (40%)
 * Indian Super League

Novi Digital Entertainment[edit]
Novi Digital Entertainment is a parent company of Disney+ Hotstar and it's a subsidiary of Star India.

In January 2015, Star India launched Hotstar, a mobile and online entertainment OTT platform owned by its affiliate, Novi Digital Entertainment. The platform features content in 9 Indian languages and broadcasts sporting events.[47]

In January 2019, Star India shut down its linear TV services in South America, United States, North America, and Canada and shifted all services to Hotstar USA.[36]

In April 2020, the service merged with Disney+ in India forming Disney+ Hotstar. Hotstar operates independently and coexists with Disney+ in Canada, Singapore, UK and US.[citation needed]

On 31 August 2021, Disney announced that it will phase out Hotstar in the US and move all contents into Hulu and ESPN+. It expects that the service will be shut down in the US by late 2022.[48]

National Sports Network in India[edit]
The STAR sports group planned to build a national sports network in India. The plan included broadcasting in Indian languages. ESPN was renamed Star Sports 4, Star Cricket was renamed Star Sports 3, Star Sports was renamed to Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 2 kept its name. Star Sports Telugu, Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD renamed to Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD2 respectively. Star Sports 3 would be predominantly a Hindi-only channel. STAR planned to start with cricket, field hockey and football (soccer) initially. Domestic cricket of India like Deodhar Trophy and Ranji Trophy are considered. Besides this, two non-professional leagues like the University Cricket and University Field Hockey were also planned to be launched by STAR. In football, Barclays Premier League is also considered for regional broadcasting by STAR.[49]

Reception[edit]
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Kaun Banega Crorepati aired on Star Plus during 2000s, made the channel the market leader in India becoming the flagship channel of Star India.[50][51]

Disney+ Hotstar, a subsidiary of Star India, censored the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 's A commentators episode on Narendra Modi where John Oliver discusses Prime Minister Modi and his Hindu nationalism as a growing threat to democracy in India.[52][53][54]

See also[edit]

 * Star TV (Asian TV networks)
 * Star China Media
 * Fox Networks Group
 * Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific
 * Fox Networks Group Middle East

Notes[edit]

 * 1) ^ Originally broadcast from Hong Kong, then split into two channels geographically on 31 March 1996. The Indian feed continued the Star Plus name.