Star to repackage music, movie channels

Chennai: With its mega successes like Kaun Banega Crorepati, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki that took Star TV to dizzying heights, Star India is now in the process of consolidating its gains.

Also, the company is planning to give a new thrust to its other channels like Channel [V], Star Movies and Star News by repackaging the offerings.

Says executive vice-president, (head of content and communication) Sameer Nair: We are giving more attention to Channel [V] so that it competes effectively with MTV, our main competitor.

The repackaging mainly involves enhancing the VJs appeal with the viewers and also airing of mega shows. The channel recently aired an exclusive Michael Jackson show; only two days later did others follow suit.

About the competition from domestic music channels Nair says: India is mainly a single television home and naturally music channels have limited viewership. But we are not worried about the spurt in regional language music channels.

As regards Stars movie channel Star Movies, Nair considers HBO as the main competitor and different strategies are being evolved to counter that. Success of movie channels hinges on titles that a channel owns and the effective scheduling of the same. So we are focussing on this area. The main formula is to take all popular titles and air them on prime time to attract viewership.

Star Movies recently completed airing of Star Wars and an action hero series. In November it plans to offer more action stuff.

Nair, however, puts Star World in the category of AXN and Zee Movies.

News is not out of Stars sight. Nair sees a major competition emanating from Aaj Tak. But Aaj Tak and Zee News are meant for the Hindi hinterland. But Star News doesnt fall into that category; we have an urban niche audience of our own and we will exploit it.