Exclusive | Star World Premiere HD celebrates 1 year on air!

While the English entertainment genre has been witnessing multiple entries over the last few years, entering the game was Star World Premiere HD promising to offer something new and different. Launched in September 2013, aimed to revolutionize the Indian viewer experience and showcase content within hours of its international airing. With over 50 popular TV shows and 700 hours of fresh content from studios like Sony, Disney, Warner and Fox; Star World Premiere HD has managed to create a distinct category for itself.

Industry observers hint that along with this, year two promises to be even bigger and better, along with host of value-ads, customized for the discerning English viewer. Adgully caught up Kevin Vaz, Business Head, English Portfolio, Star India Pvt Ltd to know about the year that was and what lays ahead.

He began the conversation by stating that, “Star World Premiere HD, is the first a-la-carte channel which comes with a unique and path breaking proposition of watching the latest with the world. Last year we started off on a positive note and today we stand tall with an all new shows on our channel. Also, we are confident to add more viewers to our kitty that will begin subscribing to Star World Premiere HD to enjoy the latest and best of international entertainment".

The channel costs Rs. 60 and since this is a-la-carte channel the subscribers have to go and pay and ask for the channel. While many say it may be a matter of concern for the channel custodians, Vaz said, “As you rightly said, this is a-la-carte channel and the audience that we cater to is large but niche too. We are present on all platforms. Also being a premium channel does not limit our reach at all rather it helps us offer premium shows to our audiences in such a price. 24 shows, 4 hours a day for the whole year in Rs 60, I guess that’s an interesting deal for the consumers and hence the cost is not an issue at all!"

When asked about ad-revenue, he said, “Since this is a subscription-driven channel, so we do not air outside ads as of now. We do have breaks but we air our own shows promos etc. Going further down the line we might think towards that direction but now.”

For its second year, Vaz mentions that Star World Premiere HD is all set with an interesting and impressive line-up. The upcoming calendar brings to India some popular new shows like Shonda Rhimes’s (Scandal & Grey’s Anatomy) ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ and  rom-com series ‘Manhattan Love Story’ and most popular returning shows like ‘Castle’, ‘The Blacklist’, ‘Homeland’, ‘Modern Family’, and ‘Two and a Half Men’ amongst others. “Interestingly, we are getting 24 shows from top studios of US namely, Universal Studio, Fox Studio, Disney and Warner and Bros, for our Indian audiences. The first year was really good for us and we are all set to buzz our audience with such shows this year too", he elaborated.

Apart from this, in a celebratory special, the channel will air weekend marathons of shows like Homeland, Two and a Half Men and The Blacklist giving viewers a chance to catch up on previous season of their favorite shows before all new and latest seasons start from September 23, 2014.

Star World Premiere HD was a one of its kind initiative, launched in the English GEC space, which is consistently cluttering scaling up competition in the business. Sharing his thoughts on the same, he said, “Last one year, since our launch, among all the other English GECs we have performed really well. Since its launch, the subscriber base for Star World Premiere HD has been growing steadily and with a lineup of 24 of the latest, most popular & anticipated shows this fall season, we are looking forward to an accelerated subscriber growth. Being a premium channel we have had a high market share and high viewership share too. Every day we see a surge of people subscribing (say 3 to 4 thousand approx) coming and our channel.”

Available exclusively only in HD, Star World Premiere HD stands testament to the technology’s superior viewing experience. The subscription-only channel is available on leading DTH and cable operators including Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, Videocon D2H, Hathway Digital, 7 Star and more.

To strengthen our reach and build awareness about the product (channel), there is a free-viewing period for DTH customers. Elaborating on that, Vaz said, “Few DTH players will have a preview period; Tata Sky HD subscribers will have free preview from 20-29 September; Airtel Digital TV subscribers will have from 29 September to 5 October and Videocon d2h consumers’ period will start from 23 and end on 29 September. This will help the consumers to get an access of a lot of our new shows hence giving them an option to decide whether to or not to continue with the channel.”

Star World Premiere HD has also made its key shows available on Tata Sky Free Catch Up service and Airtel on-demand service giving viewers an opportunity to catch up on the previous seasons of these shows that they may have missed before their new seasons begin after September 23. Star World Premiere HD will showcase 24 of the most popular international television series this fall season starting September 23rd.