Star World Premiere HD announces 31 new shows

Starting September 23, the show launches will be spread out till January 2015.

Star World Premiere HD, the English general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Star India stable, will soon be turning one and the channel has announced launch of 31 new shows to celebrate the occasion.

Starting September 23, 2014 these launches will be spread out till January 2015. Star World Premiere HD, the fourth English GEC from Star after Star World, FX and Fox Crime, was launched on September 24 last year. The proposition of the channel launch was to offer content to Indian audiences within 24 hours of its US telecast. The channel was launched with 26 shows, including famous ones like 'Criminal Minds' (Season 9), 'Castle' (Season 6), 'Modern Family' (Season 5) and 'Homeland' (Season 3).

Some of the new launches include shows that are returning in their subsequent seasons. These shows have built equity in the Indian market and are expected to do well. The channel has also shared some of the plans with DTH operators and thinks it can ramp up the numbers in a big way. The launches include New Girl Season4 (Tuesdays, 8 PM), The Blacklist Season 2 (Tuesdays, 10 PM) and Sleepy Hollow Season 2 (Tuesdays, 11 PM), Community Season 5 (Wednesdays, 8.30 pm) and Person of Interest (Wednesdays, 11 pm).

On September 25, Star World Premiere HD is launching Downton Abbey S5 (Thursdays, 10 pm), Modern Family S6 (Thursdays, 8.30 pm, Sons Of Anarchy S7 (Thursdays, 11 pm) and The Goldbergs S2 (Thursdays, 8 pm). They will be followed by Bones S10 (Fridays, 9 pm), Agents of Shield S2 (Fridays 10 pm), The Simpsons S26 (Monday, September 29, 8.30 pm), How to get Away with Murder (Mondays, 10 pm) and Revenge S4 (Tuesdays, starting September 30, 9 pm).

The other shows being launched till January are - Blackish, Once Upom a Time S4, Castle S7. Manhattan Love Story, Homeland S4, Criminal Minds S10,American Horror Story S4, The Walking Dead S5, Two And A Half Men S12, White Collar S6, The Americans S3, Parenthood S6, Agent Carter, Empire and Backstrom.

Talking about the Star World Premiere HD's performance, Kevin Vaz, business head, English channels, Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies, Star India says, "It's been a great journey for Star World Premiere HD. It was launched with a unique proposition that no other channel in the world has."

Star has first-output deals with biggest studios like FOX, Shine, Sony Pictures, Disney. According to Vaz, usually each of these would make for one channel in the US, but Star World Premiere HD has got the best of all the networks in the US, on one platform.

Star World Premiere HD has showcased over 50 shows and 700 hours of fresh content. The subscription-only channel is looking at giving it a bigger push this year. "We priced the channel at Rs 60 (a la carte) at a time when most of the English channels or most of the channels in the country don't even get a rupee. That was a big jump. But we knew the kind of product we had and the kind of audience we were appealing to," Vaz avers.

The availability of content within 24 hours of its US telecast aims at addressing the issue of piracy. "It made absolute sense. People would download shows but the experience was never great. For the first time they got shows at the same time as the US and in HD quality," points out Vaz.

The channel will be marketing the new show launches in a big way on its network and few other mediums. Star World Premiere HD is available on all big DTH platforms including Tata Sky, Videocon, Dish TV and Airtel. It's also available on digital cable.