Star TV makes fun of Zee Cinema

Star TV is taking potshots at its former ally Zee Telefilms. It has been airing an interstitial on its Star Movies channel which takes a dig at Zee TV's pay TV Hindi movie channel channel Zee Cinema.

The interstitial starts with a shot of an office building with a neon sign similar in all respects to the logo used by Zee Cinema except for a small change: the brand it is advertising 'Bee Cinema'. An executive in the Bee Cinema office is shown throwing darts at a dartboard blindfolded.

A voiceover tells the viewer that unlike other channels (Bee Cinema), Star Movies does not show its viewers movies they would not like to see. The interstitial goes on to tell viewers to log on to the startv.com website and vote for their favourite movies in the pick of the week section. Star promises that it will will then show these movies according to the viewer's preferences and in order of their popularity.

While the introduction of this scheme is commendable, Star's swipe at Zee at this juncture seems surprising. For one, we all thought that the trench warfare between Star TV and Zee TV was a thing of the past. But apparently it does not seem to be.

According to some inside sources Star's move stems from a desire by the Star Network to get back at Zee for what many insiders believe was Zee's hand in the controversial Channel [V] obscenity case.

Others say that the mocking interstitial is just a teaser for the to-be-launched Star TV Hindi movie channel Star Box Office. The ground is being prepared for the launch of the classic-movies-cum new-movies channel. It is to be seen how and whether Zee will react and if we are in for another war between two industry partners-turned-rivals.

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