Star India To Lauch Star Utsav Movie Channel
Star India, a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, revealed plans earlier this year to add a free-to-air (FTA)movie channel to launch in May-June which will be available on DD Free Dish or via streaming in various countries around the world.
The new channel was first set to be named Star Gold Romance as per the license received from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), but later received clearance to rename this to the Star Utsav Franchise as the Star Utsav name is a well known brand and will be easily recognizable among the intended audience. Once this channel is up and running Star India will increase its collection in Hindi TV Movie channels to four among Movies OK, Star Gold and Star Gold HD.
As per a statement from Hemal Jhaveri, General Manager at Star Gold, this channel will have a mix of movies both old and new. The focus of this channel will be on the rural market, a market which is responsible for over half the TV ownership in India. Their analysis reveals that around 25% of items viewed were movies but only 5% of these were of the Hindi genre, a tragedy considering that over 40% of the Indian population primarily speak Hindi. This made it clear to them that there was a market for a channel such as this since the existing Hindi movie channels lack the content craved by so many. They did vast research on the primary usage and patterns in rural areas before coming to a conclusion of what exactly this new channel will be offering. The results of these studies would build the foundation of all marketing, programming and acquisition for Star Utsav Movies.
Using the extensive network already available to Star India they have launched their new marketing campaign, which was set in motion to promote the new channel. Promotions for the new channel will be aired across all available TV channels as well as radio to ensure maximum exposure.
Star India will be using the platform YuppTV as a streaming service for their Star Utsav Movies Channel. YuppTV has gained great popularity because of their ease of use and the ability to use their services via your computer, smart TV, Western Digital Play Box and even your Android or Apple mobile devices. Should you therefore be lying in your hotel room on the other side of the globe, you can cure your homesickness by easily streaming your favorite Kannada TV Channels and other Indian Regional TV Channels on your tablet or mobile phone.
Thus far it's still unclear when the exact release date of Star Utsav Movies will be as no new information has been given by Star India.