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ZEE TV-STAR TV:
AFTER THE FALLING OUT
A flurry of activity has commenced
from both Zee TV and Star TV following the parting
of ways between the two. The former announced last
week that it would be launching the Sangeet Awards,
which will recognise performances by Indian musicians
in the film and Indi-Pop categories. It filled a slot
left vacant by Channel V - part of the Star TV Network
- which organised its Music Awards for the past two
years, but had declined to do so this year as it repositioned
its service as a youth channel. The Sangeet Awards
will be promoted under Chandra's Music Asia banner.
They will additionally be hyped on Zee TV.
Chandra told a local daily that the
Zee Network would be launching three English channels
- a general entertainment, a news service, and a movie
channel. Whether he meant it or he made the announcement
to confuse the market he alone knows.
Finally, Siticable which has around
4.3 million subscribers in India, announced that it
would be evicting the Star TV channels from its prime
band in India, starting with NGC and CNBC, preparing
the ground for the launch of its Direct to operator
(DTO) package next month. In fact, many Siticable
headends had already switched off Star TV transmissions
from their networks for a couple of days. The pretext
given was that Star was coercing cable operators to
cough up more carriage fees than was acceptable to
them. This raised a rearguard action from independent
cable operators in the major metros who announced
that they would continue to relay Star channels.
If the dump-Star TV campaign catches
on, the TV network will have to scamper to forge alliance
with other cable TV MSOs quickly. Among the likely
candidates are the Hinduja-run INCable, the Raheja-run
Hathway Cable and Raheja-backed WinCable. It is also
quite likely that Star TV will encourage the agglomeration
of independents into MSOs with some of the cash that
ZTL is providing it to ensure visibility of its channels
in Indian homes. This may well lead to a polarisation
of cable TV networks into those, which are pro-Star
TV, those which are against it, namely Siticable and
its allies and those who maintain a neutral stance.
Star TV will also have to create a
flagship channel or a bouquet of channels which are
must-viewing services. While Star Plus has converted
into a Hindi service it is yet perceived as a channel
catering to metro viewers. Hence, it will have to
create an alternative mass-targeted channel. This
is where a possible alliance with the Sri Adhikari
Brothers Sabe TV could come into play (see following
story), despite denials from Star TV India CEO Peter
Mukerjea.
Star TV could also try and reactivate
old relationships it had struck with southern Indian
language channels like the Sun Network, Eenadu TV,
Asianet, Raj TV, and Jaya TV. It had made a buyout
offer to Sun TV founder Kalanithi Maran a couple of
years ago which had been turned down. Star had got
assurances from Maran that his channel bouquet would
be part of Star TV's direct to home television package.
That Star is interested in alliances is evident from
its announcement that it had dropped its plan to launch
regional language channels. What does not make sense
is its plan to get into Hindi film production. How
a foray into theatrical releases will benefit Star
TV in its broadcasting efforts only its management
knows.
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