Star India is set to expand its English movie channel portfolio with the launch of a new channel called Star Movies Select HD this week in a bid to grow its viewer-base as well as drive Hi-Definition channel consumption.
Kevin Vaz, General Manager – English Cluster, Star India, said nearly 80 per cent of the movies being played across the English movie genre currently are action movies.
“As much as viewers need their action and superhero blockbuster, English movie viewers are also looking for freshness and new stories ranging from drama, comedies, thrillers and animation. Star Movies Select HD comes with a promise of offering a new movie through the year, every day at 9 p.m.,” he said
“We will be doing 30 movie premieres in the year. Our line-up has about seven out of the 10 Oscar winning movies. We will also show movies that did not get released in India and the consumers want to see them but did not have a chance to watch these movies,” added Vaz.
The channel will also create festivals of movies, based on consumer insights, such as movies based on true stories, book adaptation, and biopics.
The channel, which is launching on July 9, is targeted at the 4.5-million HD households in the country and aims to be available across all the DTH platforms.
Vaz said that the channel is already seeing a lot of interest from advertisers.
Brands like Pernod Ricard (Ballantine’s), BMW, Jockey, Flipkart, Yamaha and Hindware have signed up for advertising deals.