Star firms up focus on Kannada market; rebrands Suvarna as Star Suvarna

Suvarna and Suvarna Plus, the two Kannada channels from Star India stable, are being renamed as Star Suvarna and Star Suvarna Plus. Star Suvarna is slated to go on air from the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Star Suvarna is all set to premiere the Kannada version of Hindi serial ‘Har Har Mahadev’ Christened  ‘Hara Hara Mahadev’, the Kannada series will be aired in the 7.30 pm time slot and is slated to go on air from the end of July. It is learnt that the mega-budget serial will see Nikhil Gowda, Keerthi Banu and Veena Honnappa in the lead roles.

While Suvarna has women as its core TG, Suvarna Plus, which was launched in July 2013, seeks to be a complete entertainer.

As is known, Star began flexing its muscles in the South with some key acquisitions. The media group acquired majority stake in Tamil channel Vijay TV in 2001. Star then further strengthened its foray into the South market with the acquisition of 51 per cent stake in Asianet Communications, which included three Malayalam channels – Asianet, Asianet Plus and Asianet Movies, along with the Kannada GECs Asianet Suvarna and Suvarna Plus.

Star upped its stake in Asianet to 75 per cent in mid-2010, and then to 100 per cent by the middle of last year.