MUMBAI: Star India's programming folks will be dealing with a new man in Star's One Harbourfront head office in Hong Kong : Paul O'Hanlon. The Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcaster announced earlier this week that O'Hanlon had been appointed as senior vice-president production.

O'Hanlon's brief involves working with the company's local production teams in continuing to advance the quality of its programming production across the network

O'Hanlon reports to Star COO Steve Askew, the Star veteran who was the starting point for the network's tremendous success with Kaun Banega Crorepati (the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire).

Askew said, "Paul is a seasoned executive who has an impressive track record in bringing high quality production values to programming with strict fiscal discipline.

"Across our network we now have more than 25,000 hours of original production per annum and growing each year. Paul will deploy his production expertise in our major markets and I am confident that he will make a significant contribution in further strengthening our local production and delivering strong results," he added.

O'Hanlon has extensive experience in television production, as an executive producer, programmer, director and consultant. His recent production achievements include Australian Idol Concert Tour and Australia Day Live, where he oversaw top Australian pop artists performing live before 30,000 people and a viewing audience of 1.7 million.

O'Hanlon has also been a consultant to Astro in Malaysia, where, among other responsibilities, he identified production and operational changes to improve efficiency and conceptualized new programmes with the production teams.

"Star has set an industry standard in programming production and I look forward to using my skills to help build on an already strong business," commented O'Hanlon. "I'm also very excited by the prospect of working with the highly talented team at Star."