Star Plus has been on the cable network since 1992--when India got it’s first satellite network. Ok, initially Star did not have any interest in the 500 million Hindi speaking Indians in India...I guess that was not a target market for News Corp., ever.
Initially they had a pact with Zee to cover the Hindi population. Zee was co-branded or what have you with Star and also received technical support and software help to produce quality serials. I guess Zee decided to do it alone in 1997 and since then they have been trying to figure how to catchup with Zee and others for Hindi advertising dollars.
Star, with all it’s power roped in Amitabh Bachhan and decided to do Kaun Banega Crorepati, the largest viewed TV program in the History of Asian Television!!!
Well if you analyze how Star could achieve such a huge audience for KBC...at the core of it is Amitabh Bachan’s balance of Hindi and English. If the contestant speaks in English, Amitabh repeats the same thing in Hindi…sorta rhetorically though…and vice versa.. They have realized, that Hindi speaking population cannot be ignored.
Now Star is trying to play serious catchup--4 new sitcoms in Hindi on the channel right after KBC..with such clicheic Hindi words such as ’’Saas Bhi kabhi Bahu thi’’ ... ’’Ghar ghar ki kahani..’’
I think they can surely beat Zee within 6 months if the innovation continues...and it’s evident in the popularity of KBC, even after Zee’s high-profile, much publicized debut of Sawaal 10 crore ka.
The only thing that’s left for Star to compensate and trying to make up for all these years is…and I think it will happen, that Mr. Murdoch will arrive in India and speak in Hindi!!!