STAR Sports 3 beefs up non-live programming

The channel will have four new pre-recorded shows around cricket and other sports.

After bringing all its sports channels under one brand name, STAR India has now announced the launch of four shows on the newly named STAR Sports 3. Interestingly, two of the four new shows will be built around cricket, while one will talk exclusively about hockey.

The first in the list is Star Power, which was launched on November, 8. The show focuses on comprehensive updates and insights on all the shows. The half-hour show is scheduled to be broadcast twice a day at 8 pm and 10.30 pm on STAR Sports 3.

The next in the list is Heroes, which went on air on Children's Day (November, 14). The first episode featured Sachin Tendulkar interacting with children in the age group of 8-15 years. The episode was telecast at 7:00 pm with a repeat at 10:00 pm. Heroes will be aired every Saturday at 8.30 pm and feature cricketers such as Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Shoaib Akhtar, Harbhajan Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Kumar Sangakkara, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Cheteshwar Pujara.

In an official communiqué, Nitin Kukreja, head of sports business, STAR India, says, "We would like to engage more deeply with passionate sports fans. Therefore, we are embellishing our live content with a range of new shows and formats. This move is a critical step forward in creating a compelling experience for multi-sports fans who want to watch their favourite sports live and also want to have access to the best of non-live sports programming."

The third show is also a cricket based half an hour weekly show, Masterclass, in both English (to be telecast on STAR Sports 1) and Hindi (on STAR Sports 3), highlighting individual techniques adopted by star cricket players which made them legends of the game. The 13-episode series will involve physical demonstrations of various aspects of the game. Cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Navjot Singh Sidhu will discuss in detail the intricacies of cricket.

The last in the list is a show based on the Indian hockey stars. The weekly show, named Hockey Hotshots, will tell the story of each hockey star in terms of his achievement for Indian hockey, his unique skill sets and his significance for the future of Indian hockey. The show will be broadcast every Saturday at 9:00 pm on STAR Sports 3.

It will focus on 'Match Winner' V R Raghunath, the mercurial drag flicker and Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded Asia Cup; 'The Wall' under the bar P Sreejesh, vice-captain and Best Goalkeeper of Asia Cup; Mandeep Singh, who is considered by many experts as the most promising central striker of world hockey; Manpreet Singh, captain of the junior Indian Hockey team, an Olympian at 19; Ramandeep Singh, 'The Play Maker' a selfless player who keeps the team before self and Sardar Singh, one of the best mid fielders in the world, a true master of his craft and considered one of the most skilful players of modern hockey.