News Broadcasting
Star looking to launch Hindi entertainment, kids channel
NEW DELHI: Hong Kong-based Star Group Ltd., controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, plans to launch two more entertainment channels outside the direct-to-home (DTH) package of channels to be offered by the Tata-Star joint venture.
One of the channels would be in Hindi and would be made of kids’ programmes like Shakalaka Boom Boom and Son Pari.
The reason behind launching these channels is that over the years Star Plus has emerged as a very popular channel where not all programmes could be accommodated.
In the light of such developments, Star group CEO Michelle Guthrie, during an informal meeting with information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, mentioned that the company is looking at launching two more entertainment channels in India to tap the entertainment sector more effectively, government sources said.
According to the sources, there are plans by Star India to create a kids channel with local content wherein all kids-related programmes from Star Plus would be aired, apart from some content from Fox Kids. Another channel that Guthrie, probably, was indicating towards was a “Desi” version of Fox Entertainment.
It may be recalled that these were the very questions that indiantelevision.com put to Star India COO Sameer Nair in a recent interview.
Guthrie is also understood to have appreciated the development happening in India’s media and entertainment sector.
Guthrie, along with Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea and two other company executives made the rounds of government offices, including dropping in to discuss the status of the industry with broadcast, cable and telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), chief Pradip Baijal.
Interestingly, Guthrie, who is here in the capital since yesterday, met Baijal twice — once as part of the Casbaa delegation and the second time with the Star team.
EARLY CLEARANCE TO DTH PROJECT REQUESTED
After a presentation on DTH was made to I&B ministry officials at a Tata group company office here, Guthrie, according to government sources, also petitioned for an early clearance of the proposed DTH venture, saying the service could be provided for as little as Rs 180 per month from around Diwali this year.
As reported by indiantelevision.com earlier, the total DTH hardware would cost a subscriber under Rs 5,000 — Rs 4,999 to be exact, according to the presentation. The joint venture company would also subsidise the set-top boxes, depending on the customs duty levied by the government on the boxes.
Apart from exploring the possibilities of having a financing scheme for the boxes – to make it easier for subscribers – sources indicated that during the presentation it was mentioned there would be several tiers in the DTH package, which would start off with 65-odd channels initially.
The Star-Tata combine is also targeting about a million DTH subscribers in the first year.
Whether the government gave any assurance on expediting the DTH clearances early is not known, but it seems that pricing strategy of Star-Tata DTH venture is very similar to that of Dish TV, a DTH service started by Subhash Chandra’s companies, ASC and Zee Telefilms.
Meanwhile, the Tata-Star DTH proposal was listed as part of applications that were to be examined at the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) meeting today. It was number 22 on the list so whether it came up for discussion or not was not clear at the time of posting this report.
At present, the Tata-Star combine, had paid the Rs 10 million entry fee, but is still to furnish a Rs 400 million bank guarantee before the venture can get a letter of intent from the government to begin DTH.
Another player in the DTH sector, India’s pubcaster Doordarshan has said that its proposed service, scheduled to be launched in April, may get delayed to June.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
