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Tag: Star World Premiere HD

  • Star India’s English cluster to air 67th Emmy Awards live

    Star India’s English cluster to air 67th Emmy Awards live

    MUMBAI: Star India’s English general entertainment channels (GECs) will telecast the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards to Indian audiences on21 September, 2015. 

     

    Touted as the Oscars of the small screen, this glamorous gala will be simulcast LIVE on Star World, Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD and FX, and the primetime telecast on Star World, Star World HD and FX. The Network has a staggering 98 nominations across categories for this year’s Emmys. 

     

    The Star network aired more than 50 shows and 28 of those are vying for the trophy within all major contested categories this year. American Horror Story has bagged 19 nominations – coming second in line for most nominations in any category. Following closely are Mad Men with 11 and Downton Abbey with eight nominations. Other notable nominations include Emmys darling Modern Family and Louie with six nods each, while Homeland and The Simpsons received five nominations each.

     

    “Like every year, our shows find themselves as top contenders of the Emmys, which only reflects the quality and excellence of the content we curate on our channels. It gives us great pride to become broadcasting partners with the Primetime Emmy Awards once again,” said a Star India official spokesperson.

     

    Girl-power runs high at the Emmys this year with strong independent television characters portrayed by Claire Danes (Homeland), Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder), Taraji P. Henson (Empire) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category. 

     

    Not far behind, the gentlemen have blown away viewers with their funny performances, with Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Louis CK (Louie) and Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth) nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category. 

     

    Star World’s soon-to-premiere Jimmy Kimmel Live has garnered a nomination for the Outstanding Variety Talk Series category as well.

  • Comedy Central goes HD

    Comedy Central goes HD

    MUMBAI: The English entertainment channel from Viacom18 stable, Comedy Central is going to take a high definition (HD) route. The comedy channel, which so far only had a standard definition (SD) feed, will now be available in HD.

     

    While the HD feed is currently available only on Tata Sky, it will soon be offered on other platforms as well. Comedy Central HD was launched on Tata Sky on 1 July. “Comedy Central is now HD and so all the Tata Sky subscribers can enjoy the channel in HD,” said Viacom18 group CEO Sudhanshu Vats.

     

    Comedy Central HD on Tata Sky is priced at Rs 20 on a-la-carte. Surprisingly, the SD feed on a-la-carte on the platform is priced the same. Currently, the channel’s SD and HD feed are part of Tata Sky’s ‘Grand Sports Pack’ that is available at Rs 470 per month.

     

    “We have just launched Comedy Central HD, once it is available on all platforms, we will only have the HD feed,” said a source from the network.

     

    No marketing plans have been chalked out to promote the HD version of the channel at least for the next two months.

     

    It can be noted that Viacom18 is all set to launch two new English entertainment channels—Colors Infinity and Colors Infinity HD. The new channels will have shows from across genres including drama, comedy, super heroes, talent, lifestyle, action, mini-series and live events.

     

    With the addition of Comedy Central HD, there are now four HD English entertainment channels. These include: Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD and AXN HD. This number, by the end of the year, after the launch of Colors Infinity HD, FX HD and Zee Café HD, will go up to seven. 

  • Star World Premiere HD to launch 3 shows this July

    Star World Premiere HD to launch 3 shows this July

    MUMBAI: This July, Star World Premiere HD is all set to unveil an exciting set of international shows in India. Home to over 50 of the latest and biggest shows every year, the channel will be extending the offering with 3 highly anticipated shows this July – a groovy new series – Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, an exciting medical comedy – Royal Pains, and Season 2 of the breakout thrilling series – The Strain.

     

    Starting 10thJuly, the country’s only premium HD channel will bring Royal Pains, a story about a young doctor who seems to have it all until he loses it thanks to his principles, and ironically, ends up becoming an on-call doctor for the rich and famous of the Hamptons!

     

    The latest entrant creating waves in the international television world – Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll – is set to premiere in India exclusively on Star World Premiere HD, starting 22nd July. The comedy centers on Johnny Rock, a middle-aged rock star who desperately wants to be rich and famous. Actor-writer-producer Denis Leary, of The Amazing Spiderman fame, plays the lead in this series, also starring John Corbett and Elaine Hendrix.

     

    Viewers will be treated to a nail-biting experience with the premiere of the latest season of last year’s breakout success, The Strain. Launching on 31st July, The Strain is a high-concept thriller focusing on Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team from the Center for Disease Control in New York City, who are investigating a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism.

     

    Airing over 900 hours of fresh content in the year, Star World Premiere HD will also be premiering the latest seasons of popular shows like The Blacklist, Homeland, Modern Family, How to Get Away with Murder, Castle and many others, soon. 

  • Pastry chef Christina Tosi becomes first female judge on ‘Masterchef US’

    Pastry chef Christina Tosi becomes first female judge on ‘Masterchef US’

    MUMBAI: Culinary TV reality series MasterChef US has got on board pastry chef, owner and founder of New York City’s Milk Bar Christina Tosi, as the new judge on the panel. Creating history, Tosi will make her debut on the show as the franchise’s first ever-female judge.

    Tosi will also be the judge on Masterchef Junior.

    MasterChef US is all set to go on air in India starting 21 May and will be telecast every Thursday at 10 pm on Star World Premiere HD.

     The MasterChef franchise, which has seen only award winning male chef’s till date, will now welcome the first lady to grace the judging panel. Tosi has replaced Italian restaurateur and wine maker Joe Bastianich, who exited the show last year after a stint of five seasons. Tosi is all set to give a serious twist to baking and pastry challenges in the series while joining judges Gordon Ramsay and Graham Elliot in their quest to find America’s MasterChef.

     MasterChef US is the American version of the world famous culinary franchise MasterChef. The series conducts a nationwide search for the best home cooks in the country and through a series of tough challenges and elimination rounds, picks one of them as America’s ultimate culinary master.

  • Boom time for HD channels in India

    Boom time for HD channels in India

    The High Definition (HD) TV channels landscape is rapidly expanding in India. Amongst the various genres available today, the English general entertainment and movie channels genre is still a fragmented space and networks in their quest to stand apart from the nearest ranking rival, rely excessively upon content, marketing and a host of options among others.

     

    While not much is achieved in the process, the game of throne continues as networks try to outdo one another. A potent yet common weapon that networks are now heavily relying on is by launching HD channels.

     

    What is augmenting well for these networks is the demand by consumers for content that is best experienced in high definition. Since almost all the content in the English category is produced internationally, it makes sense in delivering it to consumers in HD only so that production values receive their due credit and viewers experience it at its best. This hunger for HD has very well transcended into networks now launching or sensing business opportunities by launching new HD channels. In some cases, an HD feed has been introduced to complement the existing Standard Definition (SD) feed. Digitisation will only ensure that the consumption of high definition shoots up further.

     

    Networks and their HD channels

     

    Star India will soon be launching two new HD English general entertainment channels (GECs). Its soon to be launched channel, Star Movies HD Select for a span of one year (365 days) has a content library of 365 movies – one for each day. About 50 per cent of the content comprises award winning Oscars and Golden Globes titles. To name a few, the channel has The Fault In Our Stars, Birdman and The Theory of Everything in its kitty.

     

    Star will also launch another new channel Star FX HD to compliment the SD feed of FX. The content of FX currently comprises Madmen, Seinfeld and the animated series Family Guy. Other HD channels from the network include Star World Premiere HD, Star World HD and Star Movies HD in addition to eight other HD channels in various genres like sports and Hindi movie and GEC.

     

    Multi Screen Media (MSM) is not far behind. With channels such as Pix, Pix HD and AXN, it is a strong player in the English movie and GEC space. On 6 April this year, the network sensed an opportunity by launching AXN HD to go along with the SD feed. For the man behind the launch, Pix and AXN EVP and business head Saurabh Yagnik the onset of digitisation and a strong audience base spending more time on special interest channels, made sense for the launch of the new feed. “While the shows will be same on the two channels, we will be tweaking some of the content for the HD feed. We could also have certain exclusive content for the HD feed in the future,” Yagnik had earlier told Indiantelevision.com. MSM also has two HD channels in the Hindi GEC and sports category.

     

    On the other hand, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (Zeel) is also looking at strengthening its HD portfolio. The network will soon launch a new HD channel in the English GEC space called Zee Cafe HD to compliment its SD feed. Besides this, Zeel has five other HD channels in its channel portfolio. The content on Zee Café currently comprises shows such as Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives and Secrets and Lies amongst others.

     

    Times Network, which operates channels like Movies Now and Romedy Now is another mighty contender. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com earlier, Times Network senior vice president and English entertainment cluster head Vivek Srivastava had said that its new channel, Movies Now+ was the HD version of the SD feed but it did have some differentiating content from the SD feed. It simulcast movies on both feeds such as The Wolf Of Wall Street, which is going to be showcased on 26 April 2015.

     

    The increasing growth of premium ad free channels such as HBO Hits and HBO Defined too have resulted in aiding subscription revenues for the English entertainment genre. Strong and popular content such as Game of Thrones today is synonymous with the HBO network.

     

    Growth of HD Channels in India

     

    From the meagre three HD pay TV channels in 2010, the number has shot up to 34 in 2014, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) 2013-2014 annual report. The number jumped to 22, 31 and 33 for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. With impending launches of English movie and GEC channels this year, this number is only going to be on the rise going forward.

     

    The DTH factor

     

    Value Added Services (VAS) and HD channel penetration are strong revenue generators for Direct to Home (DTH) operators. Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera was quoted in the FICCI-KPMG report for 2015 as saying, “The boom in the panel TV industry has been a key growth in HD channel viewership. The viewers are ready to pay a premium price for HD channels. With the right pricing and packaging for these channels, HD channels can achieve faster penetration.” 

     

    As per the report, there are four million HD subscribers, which account for 10 per cent of all DTH subscribers, whereas 15 to 20 per cent of incremental subscribers in 2014 were HD subscribers. “HD adoption continues to drive ARPU growth for DTH players with the average ARPU of HD subscriber at 1.5 to 2X the ARPU of a non HD subscriber,” states the report.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Premium HD channels recorded a ten-fold top line growth with DTH accounting for over 95 per cent of the premium channel subscriber base according to the 2015 FICCI KPMG report. The success of HD viewing thus, is not just a mighty boon in for broadcasters alone, (where the Ad Ex share for the space in 2014 was at 4.6 per cent) but also for DTH operators. 

     

    As panel TV sales figures were expected to touch approximately eight million units in 2014, of which 55 per cent was expected to have been HD panel TVs, the rise is only going to be vertical in the coming years. With the share of HD and 4K TV sales expected to contribute to over 80 per cent by 2019, broadcasters’ key agenda will definitely be upping their HD channels offering. Moreover, the fact that DTH operators are more than happy to increase their HD bouquet, the growth story for HD viewing and consumption in India has only just begun.

  • Star World Premiere HD to air Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’, this January

    Star World Premiere HD to air Marvel’s ‘Agent Carter’, this January

    MUMBAI: The series features the Marvel Comics character Peggy Carter, with Hayley Atwell, and takes place a year after the events of ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’. It follows Steve Rogers’ (Chris Evans) girlfriend Agent Carter (Atwell) as she builds her career as a secret agent while the hero is frozen in ice.

     

     The story is set in 1946 and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow, as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark, all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in 1940s America, in the wake of losing the love of her life — Steve Rogers.

     

     Inspired by the feature films ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, along with the Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter, the television series is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. Several characters from Marvel Cinematic Universe films appear throughout the series.

     

    In 1946, Peggy Carter must balance the routine office work she does for the Strategic Scientific Reserve, while secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to the top bidder. Carter is assisted by Stark’s butler, Edwin Jarvis, to find those responsible and dispose of the weapons.

     

    Watch Agent Carter season 1, Starting 9 January, every Friday, 10pm.

     

  • Star World Premiere HD to celebrate first birthday with 24 new series

    Star World Premiere HD to celebrate first birthday with 24 new series

    MUMBAI:  Catering to a super premium audience, Star World Premier HD from the Star India kitty, which was launched last year, is all set to celebrate its first birthday.

     

    Star India English portfolio business head Kevin Vaz is proud with the way the channel has managed to help build a major premium subscriber base. “Despite being a pure a la carte HD-only offering, we are confident that additional premium consumers will begin subscribing to the channel,” he says while adding that on the occasion, the subscription-based channel will showcase 24 of the most popular international television series in genres like comedy and drama.

     

    When quizzed, which have been the best performing markets in the last one year, Vaz informs that since it is  a paid for premium channel, currently priced at Rs 60, it is mostly consumed by audiences in the metros. And hence, it is these markets where the channel has been performing well.

     

    The channel is targeted towards those seeking exclusivity, novelty and superior viewing experience. Even though it is ad free at the moment, Vaz say that its content and popularity has drawn interest from categories like e-commerce, FMCG, automobile companies.

     

    By airing most of the shows in India, 12 hours after their US telecast, the channel has enabled viewers to gets access to latest shows and has curbed issues like piracy and illegal downloads to an extent.

     

    The new launches include: From Tuesday 23 September; New Girl season four at 8 pm, The Blacklist season 2 at 10 pm, Sleepy Hollow season two at 11 pm. Person of Interest season four will start from Wednesday 24 September at 11 pm. Downtown Abbey season five will begin from 25 September at 10 pm. Modern Family season six, Sons of Anarchy season seven, and The Goldbergs season two will start from Thursday 25 September at 8:30 pm, 11 pm and 8 pm respectively. The other shows include Bones season 10 from September 26 at 10 pm followed by Agents of Shield season two at 10 pm. On September 29 The Simpsons season 26 will start at 8 30 pm. How To get Away with Murder will start from September 29 at 10 pm. Revenge season four starts 30 September at 9 pm.

     

    The October lineup includes Blackish at 8 pm, Once Upon A Time season four at 9 pm and Castle season seven at 10 pm on 1 October. On October 3, Manhattan Love Story will begin at 8 30 pm. Last Man Standing season four and Homeland season four will start from 6 October at 8pm and 9 pm respectively. Criminal Minds season 10 will start from 9 October at 9 pm. American Horror Story season four will air at 11 pm from 10 Oct. The Walking Dead season five will start on 13 at 11 pm. 2 Broke Girls season four will start from 29 at 8:30 pm and Two and A Half Men season 12 at 31October at 8 pm.

     

    Meanwhile, White Collar season six will be aired from November 2014 to January 2015 at 10 pm, The Americans season three will start from January to May 2015 at 10 pm while Parenthood season six will start from December at 11 pm. The other shows are Agent Carter, Empire and Backstorm. The channel will continue having its out-put deals with five major studios; Fox, Disney, Universal, Sony Pictures and Marvel.

     

    The channel, in celebration mood, will present its viewers by airing special weekend marathons of shows like Homeland, Two and a Half Men and The Blacklist giving them a chance to catch up on previous seasons before all new and latest seasons commence from 23 September 2014.

     

    Apart from this, it has planned free previews for DTH subscribers of Airtel, Tata Sky and Videocon d2h to offer viewers a feel of the HD proposition. From 20 to 29 September Tata Sky viewers will be provided with the free sampling of the channel. The same will be offered to Airtel subscribers from 29 September to 5 October and Videocon d2h subscribers from 5 to 29 October 2014.

     

    As part of its marketing initiatives, the first episode of Homeland season four will be premiered on Twitter as a curtain raiser. Promotions will run across the Star network channels and advertisements will be placed in editions of the Times of India on 23 September. 

  • Season 5 Downton Abbey to make its exclusive india premiere on Star World Premiere HD

    Season 5 Downton Abbey to make its exclusive india premiere on Star World Premiere HD

    MUMBAI: Since its premiere, Downton Abbey has received critical acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades. Not only was it recognized by Guinness World Records as the most critically acclaimed English-language television series of 2011, it also earned the most nominations of any international television series in the history of the Primetime Emmy Awards, with twenty-seven in total (after two series)and was the highest rated drama on television in 2013. By the third series, it had become one of the most widely watched television drama shows in the world.

     

    Downton Abbey is a British costume drama television series, set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy

     

    The highly anticipated, Season 5 of Downton Abbey, will make its Exclusive India Premiere Only on Star World Premiere HD this September.

  • Star runs marathon specials of Emmy nominated shows

    Star runs marathon specials of Emmy nominated shows

    MUMBAI: Intensifying the anticipation around televisions most iconic awards night, The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, the Star Network, the official broadcast partner for in India has special plans to promote the same. Celebrating the simulcast of the starry gala across its 5 channels i.e. Star World, Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD, Fox Crime and FX, the network has a special programming plan in place wherein a marathon run  of select 2014 Emmy Nominated shows will go on air on Star World, as a precursor.

     

    Perfectly timed with the ongoing Emmy fever,  eager audiences can look forward to the extravaganza and root for their favorite shows, Star World will rerun shows like Mad Men (Season 7), Modern Family (Season 4), The Big Bang Theory (Season 5) and The Simpsons (Season 23), all of whom find themselves among the nominees this year. Starting from 9th August, Mad Men Season 7 will air from 11am to 6pm, followed by The Simpsons Season 23, airing from 11AM to 6PM on 16th & 17th Aug, The Big Bang Theory Season 5 on 23rd and 24th August from 11AM to 6PM and finally Modern Family Season 4 from 8:30AM to 8PM on 26th August.

     

    Along with the special programming, The Emmys will be heavily promoted on the digital platform with specially designed activations.  A poll will also run on social media to predict and vote who they think would win the Emmys this year across categories in the hope of winning exciting and exclusive gifts including an iPad Mini.

     

    Nominated in 10 categories, the popular comedy show Modern Family vying for the Emmys in the Outstanding Comedy Series among other categories,  follows three different, yet related families and their lives as they face trials and tribulations in their own uniquely comedic ways. Also earning a nod in the Outstanding Comedy Series category is the popular American sitcom The Big Bang Theory having garnered 7 nominations for the Emmys this year. The brilliant comedy revolves around a pair of physicists who understand how the universe works but have no clue about how to interact with people.  Also in the run for an Emmy this year is the animated satire and the longest-running scripted show in television history- The Simpsons. The series, a satirical depiction of middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, struck a chord among viewers from the time it went on air 20 years back. With 8 nominations, the classic drama Mad Men stands tall having been nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in Drama series among other categories for the year. Set in the 1960’s, the period drama revolves around one of New York’s most prestigious ad agencies, while focusing on one of the firm’s most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.

     

    Watch the three-hour Emmys Live on 26th of August at 5:30 am on Star World, Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD, Fox Crime and FX and at 8: 00 pm (repeat) on Star World, Star World HD, Fox Crime and FX.

  • Star to live simulcast 66th Primetime Emmy Awards across 5 channels

    Star to live simulcast 66th Primetime Emmy Awards across 5 channels

    MUMBAI: For the first time ever, television’s most celebrated and premiere awards night will be simulcast live in India across the Star bouquet of channels. Touted as TV’s biggest night, the glamorous gala held annually witnesses the best names from the television fraternity walking the red carpet pre-show. From first time nominees to returning favorites each year, the best on prime television are rewarded. Viewers wait in anticipation, rooting for their favorite shows and actors to win the iconic Emmy award.  

     

    Nominations for the 66th Emmy® Awards were announced last night by the Television Academy in California. For the first time, they implemented online voting for the nominations phase of the Emmy Awards.  The Academy’s membership embraced this change with a meaningful increase in voter participation, nominating programs and performers from broadcast, cable, premium cable and digital outlets.  These nominations underscore the membership’s dedication to recognizing quality content regardless of platform.

     

    While Game of Thrones was the most nominated program with with 19 nominations, celebrated miniseries Fargo received 18 nominations and American Horror Story: Coven that aired on Star World Premiere HD received 17 nominations.  Other programs receiving ten or more nominations include Breaking Bad (Currently airing on FX), The Normal Heart, Saturday Night Live, House of Cards, Downton Abbey (Due to air on FX), Orange Is The New Black, True Detective and Modern Family (aired on Star World), among others.

     

    Additionally, the many Drama and Comedy series receiving multiple performer nominations include The Big Bang Theory (Star World), Homeland (Star World), House of Cards, Mad Men (Star World Premiere HD), The Newsroom, Portlandia, Saturday Night Live, Shameless and Veep, among others.

     

    This year’s performer nominations include a renowned group of actors many of whom are past Oscar nominees and winners.  This includes Chiwetel Ejiofor in Dancing On The Edge, Matthew McConaughey in True Detective and Julia Roberts in The Normal Heart, all of whom were nominated for an Oscar this past year.

     

    Kevin Vaz, General Manager, Star India Pvt Ltd- English cluster says, “This is our first year as official broadcast partner for the Primetime Emmy Awards in India. Our vision is to make Emmy’s a household name in India like The Oscars and it’s for this very reason that we will simulcast the original airing and its repeat across our English GE Channels. Some of our biggest shows like Homeland, Breaking Bad and Mad Men have been nominated and we are glad that this year we will celebrate International TV’s biggest night on India’s biggest English Entertainment Network.”

     

    Hosting the “66th Primetime Emmy® Awards”, will be Primetime Emmy winner Seth Meyers, a dynamic and multifaceted television personality all set to charm audiences with his inimitable wit. He shot to fame for his no-hold-barred style of commentary as a television anchor in the widely popular series Saturday Night Live, and is now the host of the talk show, Late Night with Seth Meyers. The event will be held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles at will be telecasted at 5:30 am IST with a primetime repeat telecast at 7 pm IST on the 26th August 2014. After telecasting the celebrated Academy Awards, known as The Oscars on Star Movies, the Emmys is yet another premier broadcast acquisition to Star’s prolific portfolio.

     

    Watch the three-hour Emmys Live on 26th of August at 5:30 am and at 7: 00 pm (repeat) on Star World, Star World HD, Star World Premiere HD, Fox Crime and FX.