Star India yesterday has published its new Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) which will be applicable from 1 February 2020. Apart from a few price changes, the broadcaster has also announced the launch of 5 new channels within the next 2 months. The RIO also revealed that Star will discontinue its 3 channels and rebrand ‘Movies OK’ channel.
Star Gold 2 HD, Vijay Music, Star Movies Select, Disney HD and Star Sports 3 HD launch; Movies OK to rebrand
Star Gold 2, Vijay Music, Star Movies Select, Star Gold 2 HD and Star Sports 3 HD are going to be launched by the broadcaster on 1st February while Disney Channel HD will be launched on 1st March. ‘Movies OK’ channel is going to be rebranded as ‘Star Gold 2’ on 1st February.
Vijay Music, a Tamil music channel launching on 1st February will compete with other channels like Sun Network’s Sun Music, Raj Television Network’s Raj Musix, Jaya TV Network’s Jaya MAX. This channel is priced at Rs 1 per month.
Star Movies Select will be the SD version for English Movies channel Star Movies Select HD. This channel will cater to iconic movies that are a part of the Hollywood Hall of Fame. Star India has priced this channel at Rs 2 per month.
Star is ending its ‘OK’ branding with the rebrand of Movies OK, earlier Life OK channel was rebranded as Star Bharat. Star Gold 2 channel will replace Movies OK. Star Gold 2 SD channel will cost Rs 2 per month while its HD variant will be chargeable at Rs 5 per month.
In sports genre, the broadcaster is launching Star Sports 3 HD at a price of Rs 5 per month on 1st February, this is the HD version of existing Star Sports 3. Star India is also launching it’s second HD kids channel on 1st March. Disney Channel HD will be available at a cost of Rs 10 per month.
| Channel Name | Price (excluding taxes) | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Vijay Music | Rs 1 | Tamil Music |
| Star Movies Select | Rs 2 | English Movies |
| Star Gold 2 | Rs 2 | Hindi Movies |
| Star Gold 2 HD | Rs 5 | Hindi Movies |
| Star Sports 3 HD | Rs 5 | Sports |
| Disney Channel HD | Rs 10 | Kids |
Nat Geo Tamil, Nat Geo Telugu and Star World Premier HD to shutdown
Last year Star India had launched 2 regional channels- National Geographic Tamil and National Geographic Telugu for Rs 2 per month each. However, since no operator has shown interest in adding them on its platform, the broadcaster has decided to shut them down.
Star India is also discontinuing English GEC channel Star World Premiere HD and requesting operators to drop it from their platform. This channel currently airs shows like ‘Life in Pieces’, ‘Bosch’, ‘The Bridge’ and more. It will be going off-air on 31st January.
It will be interesting to see if Star can get DPOs to add its upcoming channels given it failed to get Star Sports 1 Marathi, Nat Geo Telugu and Nat Geo Tamil onboard any DPO leading to the shutdown of the latter 2 channels. The new channels might meet the same fate if Star India fails to distribute the channels properly.
