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MUMBAI: After striking a truce with Mumbai's cable operators and
gaining prime band occupancy on their networks, Star One is making
all efforts to regain lost ground.
In order to refresh the memories of the Mumbai viewer, Star One
has slotted a series of marathons and re-cap episodes of its key
properties including The Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya
(TGILCD), India Calling, D.O.N, Yeh Dil Chahe More and Kya
Hoga Nimmo Ka.
"Due to a disagreement with the cable trade in Mumbai, we
were absent from the prime band. It crippled the channel's growth
in a big way. Now we have reached a settlement and are back on the
prime band. Mumbai has always been an important market for the channel,
delivering almost 30 per cent of the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM)
ratings. Now we look forward to regaining our position," states
Star India EVP marketing Ajay Vidyasagar.
Speaking on the impact that Mumbai's absence from the picture made
on the newly launched shows such as Kya Hoga... and Heart
Beat, Vidyasagar says, "Those brands didn't get an opportunity
to connect with the Mumbai viewers." On the revival of the channel,
he counts on TGILCD to play a key role. "This property
will be the lead vehicle for us to drive audiences in Mumbai back
to the channel."
On the marketing and promotion front, the channel will be triggering
a multimedia campaign covering print, radio, outdoors and internet.
"We will begin with a print campaign tomorrow (1 June) leading
up to the finals of TGILCD. This will be followed by a series
of radio activities. Celebrities such as Hrithik Roshan and Diya
Mirza will also come on board for promotions. We are planning extensive
ground events to promote TGILCD," says Vidyasagar.
On the latest introduction Heart Beat not figuring in the
recap exercise, Vidyasagar explains, "It is a bit tough to
get into a wild bunch of repeats. We don't want to offer an over
dose of the strategy."
When queried on the fate of those upcoming shows including Sixer,
which were put on hold post the cable disturbance, Vidyasagar said
they were put on hold due to creative reasons. "There weren't
too many shows, which we put on hold. Yes, due to certain creative
reasons, we have delayed certain shows. It will require certain
time to recraft those shows," he says.
As already reported by Indiantelevision.com, Star One was
pushed into the hyper band since January as Star India was asking
for an increase in payout from cable TV operators. Star was blamed
by the association of distributors and last mile operators in Mumbai
for forcing the second bouquet comprising channels like Star One
and Walt Disney on cable operators.
Opposition was also against Tata Sky, in which Star is a 20 per
cent joint venture partner, for approaching housing societies with
the proposal of offering residents a central dish antenna through
which it could connect individual installations and offer direct-to-home
(DTH) service.
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