STAR TV SAYS BREAKEVEN BY NEXT YEAR...EVEN
AS IT PUSHES ITS C-BAND DTH SERVICE
Star TV says that its Indian operations
are likely to break even by mid-1999. The network says its
revenues - both ad and subscription - have been rising more
than 60% this year. The digitalization of its channels has
however cost it substantially this year, a Star TV spokesperson
says.
The network is adding Star World - a pay
TV channel -- to its bouquet from 5 October. A programming
revamp on Hindi-English channel Star Plus is also planned
with more Hindi films, and local shows. Star TV India chief
executive R. Basu says the network will start experimenting
with a multilingual service, without elaborating on the
languages planned. He adds that regional language channels
in Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali and Gujarati are scheduled
to be rolled out by next year.
Star TV has started promoting its C-Band
DTH service in the Indian market. In fact hundreds of installation
have already been made all over the country. A year and
a half ago Star had hired more than 300 employees for its
Ku-band DTH service called ISkyB. But with the government
banning Ku-band DTH, the employees were left with little
to do and the wage bill was adding to Star TV's losses.
Subscribers to Star's C-band DTH service are coughing up
Rs 31,000 for the decoder and Rs 25,000 for the 24 foot
antenna. The annual subscription has been placed at Rs 1,200
for a five channel package.
