News Broadcasting
Star Movies aims to ride high on Blockbuster power
MUMBAI: What better way to attract traffic to a movie channel than to get more movies on board!
Star Movie’s master plan for the year 2004 is to boggle the audience with more movies, and not just the commercial blockbusters but the offbeat cinema as well.
The channel issued a release captioned ‘it’s raining blockbusters in 2004 on Star Movies’. Quoting the AC Neilson TAM data, the channel claims that it has been, in fact, the number one channel in the last two years, that is, 2002 and 2003.
The channel has, in a bid to bolster its position, lined up of big blockbusters in the next few months. The titles that Star’s movie arm plans to air include Minority Report, Signs, Road to Perdition, Catch me if you can, Monster’s Ball, Ice Age, Original Sin, Tuxedo, Bulletproof Monk, The Pianist, and Pearl Harbour.
Touted as India’s No 1 English movie channel, Star’s movie arm claims to be leading both primetime and all-day shares over HBO.
According to the official release, Star Movies had nine out of 10 top movies in 2002, while it had seven out of top 10 in 2003. Quite contrary to the claims made by HBO South Asia country manager Shruti Bajpai that December saw 11 of the top 15 movies coming from the HBO stable, when it ran the Best of 2003 block
Bajpai had, in a tete-e-tete with indiantelevision.com, offered that HBO’s share for the prime time 9-11 pm slot 42 per cent, while AXN, Zee MGM, Hallmark and Star Movies shared the rest.
But the data provided by Star Movies seems to offer a different picture.
Surprisingly, the rating list provided does not even figure HBO’s 2002 blockbuster Mission Impossible II in the top 10 movies, while the archival 1973 Bruce Lee movie Enter the dragon ranks third.
For the year, 2004 Star Movies has already has a good start with it’s Made in India festival, a series of the best of Indian-English films. While HBO just aired its big ticket for the quarter Spiderman a fortnight ago.
While both the channels have lined up a bunch of Oscar- winning and nominated movies, Star Movies does have an upper hand with the Oscar Fever culminating to the 76 Academy Awards, shown live and exclusive on 1 March, 6:30 am.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to host Kolkata Town Hall on Hooghly River
‘Bhalobasa Bengal Inspiring Bharat’ event on April 20 brings cultural icons, trailblazing women and leaders aboard a cruise to celebrate Bengal’s enduring influence.
MUMBAI: Bengal is about to make fresh waves on the Hooghly and this time the current is pure conversation. CNN-News18 is taking its iconic Town Hall format to the waters of the iconic Hooghly River on 20 April 2026 with a special edition titled ‘Bhalobasa Bengal – Inspiring Bharat’. The floating event will celebrate the state’s rich cultural legacy and how its ideas, creativity and spirit continue to shape the rest of the country.
The unique riverside setting draws on Bengal’s history as a cradle of reform, art and intellectual thought. The speaker line-up mirrors that diversity: cultural heavyweights Mithun Chakraborty and Sreenanda Shankar will share the stage with trailblazing “Devis” such as Tanya Sanyal (India’s first woman firefighter in aviation), Ipsita Chakraborty (Kolkata’s first woman bartender) and Reshma Nilofer Visalakshi (Nari Shakti awardee and marine pilot). Music will flow through the celebrated pianist-vocalist duo Sourendro and Soumyojit, while public life and governance will be represented by Smriti Irani, Leander Paes, Saira Shah Halim, Keya Ghosh, Rekha Patra, Roopa Ganguly and Babul Supriyo.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director, Rahul Shivshankar, said the event honours voices that carry Bengal’s legacy forward. Smriti Mehra, CEO – English & Business News, Network18, added that Bengal’s stories resonate far beyond its borders, especially as the state heads into polls.
From the first woman to battle flames in the skies to legendary actors who shaped Indian cinema, the gathering promises a rich mix of inspiration, courage and candid dialogue. In a city where culture has always flowed as freely as the river itself, CNN-News18 is turning the Hooghly into a floating forum for ideas that matter.
Tune in on 20 April on CNN-News18, CTV and YouTube to catch Bengal’s heartbeat in full flow.
