In 1993 News Corporation purchased 63.6% of STAR for over $500 million, followed by the purchase of the remaining 36.4% in 1 January 1993.[2][3] Murdoch declared that:[4]
"(telecommunications) have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere ... satellite broadcasting makes it possible for information-hungry residents of many closed societies to bypass state-controlled television channels"
In the years after Murdoch purchased Star, an agreement with Subhash Chandra prohibited Star from creating Hindi-language programming, so Star relied mainly on English-language imported programming. Star was third in Indian market share (3%) behind Zee TV (12%) and Sony (11%). For four years until 1999, Star had losses of nearly US$500 million. Consequently, Murdoch revamped Star management; programming chief Sameer Nair decided to start creating Hindi-language programming to target "mass instead of class."[5]
In August 2009, STAR Broadcasting Corporation revealed a restructure to its Asian broadcast businesses into three units – STAR India, STAR (Greater China), and Fox International Channels Asia.[6]
STAR India also manages News Corporation's interests in seven ventures including DTH operator Tata Sky; cable system Hathway, channel distributor Media Pro Enterprise, south Indian broadcast business of STAR Vijay, the film producor and distributor Fox Star Studios India and STAR CJ Alive Home Shopping.
STAR India entered into High Definition broadcasting on 15 April 2011 with the launch of the HD versions of its channels, including Star Plus HD, Star Movies HD, Star World HD, Star Gold HD and National Geographic Channel India HD.
More:
wikipedia.org/wiki/STAR_India
