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Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific

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Satellite Television Asia Region
Company typeCable television network, Subsidiary of News Corporation
IndustryEntertainment
Founded1 August 1990
FounderRichard Li
HeadquartersHong Kong
Key people
Paul Aiello (CEO)
Richard Li (founder)
ProductsTelevision channels, Film
OwnerNews Corporation
ParentSTAR TV
WebsiteSTAR TV

Satellite Television Asia Region (STAR) is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It is headquartered in Hong Kong, with regional offices in mainland China, Taiwan.

According to the STAR website, their service has more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries and is watched by approximately 120 million viewers every day.

History

The company was launched in 1 August 1990 as part of Hutchison Whampoa group. It started broadcasting five television channels in 1 January 1991 from AsiaSat 1 Satellite. Launch of The STAR TV Network pioneered satellite television in Asia and in the process catalyzed explosive growth in the media industry across the entire region.

In 1993, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation purchased 63.6% of STAR for over $500 million, followed by the purchase of the remaining 36.4% in 1 January 1993.[1][2] Murdoch declared that:[3]

"(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"

After this, the former prime minister Li Peng requested and obtained the ban of satellite dishes throughout the country. Subsequently the STAR TV network dropped the BBC channels from its satellite offer. This, and many ensuing declaration from Murdoch, led critics to believe the businessman was striving to appease the Chinese government in order to have the ban lifted.[3]

In August 2009, STAR Broadcasting Corporation revealed a restructure to its Asian broadcast businesses into four units - STAR India, Star Greater China, Star Select and Fox International Channels Asia.

Impact

Today, STAR Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts over 60 services in 13 languages. Shows include entertainment, sports, movies, music, news and documentaries.

Reaching more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries across Asia, STAR Broadcasting Corporation is watched by approximately 120 million viewers every day.[citation needed]

STAR Broadcasting Corporation controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming. It also owns Fortune STAR, the world's largest[citation needed] contemporary Chinese film library, with more than 600 titles, featuring superstars including Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-fat and Bruce Lee. In partnership with leading companies in Asia, STAR Broadcasting Corporation businesses extend to filmed entertainment, television production, cable systems and distribution, direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV broadcasting, wireless and digital services.

In 1994, STAR TV Network removed BBC World Service Television (now BBC World News) from the network following demands from the government of the People's Republic of China. It is alleged that the PRC government was unhappy with BBC coverage and threatened to block Star TV in the huge mainland Chinese market if the BBC was not withdrawn. This is despite technology that is capable of blocking BBC World in China, while making it available in other countries they serve.[4][5][6]

On August 9, 2010, News Corporation signed an agreement with China Media Capital (CMC), which CMC acquired a controlling stake in STAR China's properties (Xing Kong, Xing Kong International, Channel [V] Mainland China and the Fortune STAR Chinese movie library).

Management team

  • Laureen Ong, Chief Operating Officer
  • Ward Platt, president of FIC.
  • John Lau, Star's president of China and Taiwan.
  • Uday Shankar, chief executive of Star India.

Original Team

  • Richard Li, Founder
  • Robert Chan, President
  • Frances Wong, Chief Financial Officer
  • Michael Johnson, Special Advisor to Richard Li
  • Alexander B. Zilo, Senior Vice President, Programming
  • Steve Moss, Executive Vice President
  • George Chan, Head of Advertising Sales
  • Craig Ehrlich, Senior Vice President, Distribution
  • Peter Schloss, General Counsel
  • Kevin McIntyre, Senior Vice President, Distribution
  • David Manion, Senior Vice President, Distribution
  • Roger Clark, Senior Vice President Network Operations
  • Gary Goodchild, Vice President Network
  • Phil Braden, Vice President, Broadcast Operations & Engineering
  • Darren Childs, MTV & Channel [V]
  • John Fernandez, Broadcast Operations Manager
  • Bethany Bunnell, Creative Services

List of Channels provided

  • STAR Chinese Channel - a 24-hour Mandarin general entertainment channel for audiences in Taiwan and beyond. It is one of the five original STAR TV channels when it launched on 21 October 1991.
  • STAR Chinese Movies - a 24-hour Cantonese and Mandarin movie channel. one of the five original STAR TV channels when it launched on 1 May 1994 as "STAR Mandarin Movies" and re-launched on 31 March 1996 as "STAR Chinese Movies".
  • STAR Chinese Movies 2 - a 24-hour Cantonese and Mandarin movie channel that shows popular Chinese box-office hits from the 1970 until 1993. Currently available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and United States.
  • STAR Movies - a 24-hour English movie channel which broadcast to India, People's Republic of China, Middle East, Vietnam, Republic of China and Philippines.
  • STAR World - a 24-hour English entertainment channel with to Southeast Asia and one of the five original STAR TV channels when it launched on 15 December 1991 as "STAR Plus" and re-launched on 31 March 1996 as "STAR World".
  • Phoenix Chinese Channel - 24-hour Mandarin international news and entertainment channel it was launched on 31 March 1996.
  • Phoenix InfoNews Channel - 24-hour Mandarin international news channel it was launched on 1 January 2008.
  • Phoenix Movies Channel - 24-hour Mandarin movie channel in People's Republic of China it was launched on 28 August 1998.
  • Phoenix Hong Kong Channel - 24-hour Cantonese news and entertainment channel in Hong Kong it was launched on 28 March 2011.
  • Xing Kong - Mandarin general entertainment channel in People's Republic of China.
  • Channel [V] - a 24-hour international music video channel. There are local versions of Channel [V] in India, People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Philippines, Thailand and Australia.
  • ESPN - a 24-hour sports channel with broadcast by ESPN Star Sports (ESS) a joint venture with ESPN International.
  • STAR Sports - a 24-hour sports channel which is the evolution of Prime Sports devoted to different sporting events, such as cricket, auto racing, golf, and many more. Also broadcast by ESPN STAR Sports and one of the five original STAR TV channels when it launched on 21 August 1991 as "Prime Sports" and re-launched on 21 August 1993 as "STAR Sports". Formerly known as Prime Sports.
  • SBS ESPN - a 24-hour sports channel it joint venture between ESPN and Seoul Broadcasting System (ESPN).
  • ANTV - a Indonesian national private commercial free-to-air terrestrial television channel in Indonesia.
  • ESPNews Asia - 24-hour sports news channel.
  • National Geographic Channel
  • Nat Geo Adventure - 24-hour adventure programming, formerly known as A1.
  • Nat Geo Wild - 24-hour channel is available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Middle East, Republic of China, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.
  • National Geographic Channel HD - a 24-hour available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Taiwan and Malaysia only.
  • Fox Crime - is the first and only 24-hour factual and fictional entertainment television channel dedicated to crime, investigation and mystery. Available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Middle East and South Korea.
  • FX - a 24-hour channel offering a broad mix programming targeted at male audiences including comedy, action sports, drama series, reality shows, cars and swimsuit model programs. Available in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and Malaysia only.

Former Channels

  • VIVA Cinema - STAR TV's Filipino movie channel a joint venture with VIVA Entertainment, launched on 6 May 1996. This channel was ceased broadcasting on 31 July 2003.
  • BBC World Service Television (now BBC World News) a 24-hour English news channel and one of the original STAR TV channels when it launched on 15 November 1991 a joint venture between BBC World News and STAR TV a subsidiaries of BBC International Television a member of BBC Television and owner by BBC; but it ended its affiliation on 30 April 1994 to broadcast separate ways & it was replaced by STAR TV American Movies Channel (now STAR Movies) and STAR Mandarin Movies Channel (now STAR Chinese Movies) on 1 May 1994.
  • STAR News - a 24-hour English and Mandarin news channel and one of the original STAR TV channels when it launched on 15 November 1991. STAR News ended its relationship with STAR TV on 31 March 1996.
  • MTV Asia - a 24-hour music video channel and one of the original STAR TV channels when it launched on 15 September 1991 a joint venture between MTV Networks Asia Pacific owner by Viacom and STAR TV; but it ended its affiliation on 30 April 1994 to broadcast separate ways and was replaced by Channel V.
  • Prime Sports - a 24-hour English and Mandarin sports channel and one of the original STAR TV channels when it launched on 21 August 1991 a joint venture between Prime Network and STAR TV; but it ended its affiliation on 20 August 1993 to broadcast separate ways & it was replaced by STAR Sports on 21 August 1993.
  • Film Indonesia - a 24-hour Indonesian movie channel.
  • STAR Plus Japan - a 24-hour Japanese entertainment channel.
  • TechTV - a 24-hour computer channel. Formerly seen in Middle East via STAR Select.
  • EL TV - a 24-hour Hindi entertainment channel. EL TV ended its relationship with STAR TV in 1999.
  • Zee TV - a 24-hour Hindi entertainment channel. Zee Network ended its relationship with STAR TV in 1999.
  • Zee Cinema - a 24-hour Hindi movie channel. Zee Network ended its relationship with STAR TV in 1999.
  • CNBC Asia - a 24-hour English business news channel launched in 1996, This channel terminated within 2006 replacing CNBC Europe. Formerly Available in the Middle East via STAR Select.
  • CNBC Europe - a 24-hour English business news channel, formerly available on STAR Select in the Middle East. This channel was terminated on 31 March 2007.
  • The History Channel - a 24-hour history and biography channel in India. This channel was relaunched as Fox History and Entertainment in November 2008.
  • Jetix - a 24-hour kids channel, formerly available on STAR Select in the Middle East. This channel was terminated on 30 November 2008.
  • Fox Sports - a 24-hour sports channel, available on STAR Select in the Middle East. This channel was terminated on 31 December 2008.
  • Channel V Korea - a music channel, the South Korean affiliate of Channel V launched on 16 June 2001. The channel was temporarily shutdown on December 31, 2008.
  • Fox News Channel
  • BabyTV - is the first 24-hour, commercial-free channel for children under pre-schoolers. This channel is now available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Philippines and India.
  • Sky News
  • itv Granada - A 24-hour British entertainment from Granada now only available on Star Select in the Middle East, dropped from the line-up in the rest of Asia in 2002. Formerly known as Granada UKTV and Granada TV.
  • MBC-ESPN - a 24-hour sports channel it joint venture between ESPN and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ a b http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/22/chinathemedia.rupertmurdoch
  4. ^ Announcing The P.u.-litzer Prizes For 1994
  5. ^ BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | China lets in BBC TV
  6. ^ Star-TV (Hong Kong)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to STAR TV (Asia).
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