STAR India has finally got a new CEO. Close to four months after the high-profile exits of Peter Mukherjea and Sameer Nair, STAR has appointed STAR News CEO Uday Shankar as new chief executive.

Senior executives of STAR India and STAR News confirmed the development to ET on Sunday. A formal announcement is expected in the next few days from Hong Kong. However, the STAR spokesperson feigned ignorance when contacted for an official response.

A veteran in the news business, this will be Mr Shankar’s first stint in the general entertainment broadcasting segment. A senior print and television journalist, Mr Shankar joined STAR News in February 2004. (more…)

After years of uncertainty, India’s state-owned television network Doordarshan will begin broadcasting two free-to-air channels here with the idea of bringing “the essence of India to Great Britain” from April 16.

According to the Rayat Group, the private company in charge of the channels’ distribution here, the two channels, DD India and DD News, will start broadcasting 24 hours a day from April 16. The content will be mostly in Hindi.

The launch of the channels is expected to provide a base for further expansion into Europe. Doordarshan will be the latest channel targeting the Asian/Indian diaspora in Britain. The current channels bouquet includes STAR TV, Zee, Sony, NDTV, and others produced and distributed from within Britain, such as MATV and Raj TV. (more…)

STAR is launching its two new channels in November. STAR, which currently transmits two of its channels STAR Plus and STAR News in the UK, will be launching its third and fourth channels STAR One and STAR Gold. Both channels are expected to launch on the Sky Digital platform week commencing Monday 20th November 2006, although deals with other digital TV providers are also possible.

STAR One launched in India in November 2004 providing entertainment for the younger viewers with shows like ‘Nach Baliye’ and ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’. STAR Gold is a Hindi movie channel showing a mix of contemporary as well as classic movies from the 1950s to the 1990s. (more…)

For making the ZEE channels a global broadcasting network, its chairman Subhash Chandra will be launch channels in various languages across the globe. Subhash said ZEE Telefilms is all set to launch a Russian entertainment channel in Russia and a local language news channel in Indonesia. This is the first attempt by an Indian broadcaster to launch entertainment channels in an international market in the local language.

The news channels of India like STAR News, Aaj Tak and NDTV have launched international versions in markets like West Asia and Europe, NDTV recently entered into a joint venture with Astro Networks to launch news channels in Indonesia and it is also expected to launch news channels in Malaysia. (more…)