The Hindu Business Line : Star's new channel to rerun Star Plus soaps

IF you want to catch up with the early episodes of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhie Bahu Thi or Asha Parekh's popular Kora Kagaz, here's a chance. Star India is planning to launch a new channel, tentatively called Star Classic, featuring a rerun of some of the popular shows aired on the flagship, Star Plus, channel.

Officials in the broadcasting company said that the new channel would be launched in a month's time and would be a free-to-air channel. Currently, all the channels, except Star News, from the Star India stable are pay channels.

"The channel will target the smaller cities and towns where Star Plus is not widely available," said sources.

The proposal for launching a free-to-air channel was mooted during the controversy surrounding the conditional access system (CAS).

The broadcaster then feared a reduction in connectivity of Star Plus during the initial stage of CAS implementation.

According to industry analysts, the idea of launching a second channel is a good one.

"Sun TV had earlier launched KTV as a flanker channel, which has kept competition away from the No 1 channel. The idea is to create a No 2 channel within the available space, so that competition fights with this channel and the No 1 channel continues to occupy leadership position," said Mr Atul Phadnis, Vice President, TAM India.

Advertising industry officials said that the broadcaster would be able to generate additional revenues at almost no programme acquisition cost.

"Since the channel may be a free-to-air one, most of the cable operators are likely to carry it. And if the advertising spots are priced reasonably, the channel would bring in extra revenues," said a media planner.

Currently, some of the popular shows on Star Plus command as much as Rs 3.5 lakh for a 10-second spot.

The Hindi entertainment channels market has become highly competitive especially in different time bands.

Events and blockbuster films attract a large number of audiences impacting the viewership numbers of several popular shows.

The mass entertainment channels are facing threats from other genres such as news and sports.

The FICCI-Ernst & Young report on the media sector pegged the total advertising on television in 2003 stood at Rs 4,220 crore with mass entertainment channels garnering a 47 per cent share, which is 10 per cent less than the previous year.

This new channel is the first of the launches proposed by Star India in the forthcoming months.

The bouquet is looking at adding a kids' channel and is believed to be in talks with UTV for its Hungama channel and the Disney Group for its channels.