STAR India to launch second Hindi movie channel on May 6

To be operational under the 'OK' brand, the channel will be headed by Hemal Jhaveri, who is also general manager, STAR Gold. The test signals for the channel are already up and running.

STAR India, the biggest television broadcaster in India, which operates under the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp, is finally ready to launch its second Hindi movie channel, Movies OK.

To be operational under the 'OK' brand, the channel is expected to see an official launch on May 6 and will be headed by Hemal Jhaveri, general manager, STAR Gold. For the record, the test signals for the channel are already up and running.

While no official confirmation could be obtained at the time of filing this report despite several attempts, sources close to the development state that the network is expected to launch a full-fledged marketing effort, announcing the channel launch, around May 5.

Even as the combined library of the movie channels, STAR Gold and Movies OK, will boast of more than 1,000 titles, the content on both the channels will be distinguished from each other. With this, the Hindi movie genre will now have 11 channels competing for the pie. The other channels in the genre include Zee Cinema, SET Max, STAR Gold, Filmy, UTV Movies, B4U Movies, Enterr10, Manoranjan TV, India Talkies and Zee Premier.

For the record, Movies OK will be the second product from STAR that will function under the 'OK' brand. STAR Network launched Life OK, its second GEC, on December 18, 2011. Targeted at the urban youth, the channel was earlier operational as STAR One.

The product returned with a facelift and a completely new programming line-up, wherein the only old hand was Sach Ka Saamna, the driver property for the refreshed channel. The show, in its first season, was aired on Star Plus.