As per media reports, Star India has postponed the launch of five channels till further notice, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on TV broadcast business, Star has decided to put the launch of these channels on hold.
Vijay Music, Star Sports 3 HD, Star Gold 2 HD, Star Movies Select, and Disney Channel HD are the five channels that were slated to release.
“This is to inform all distributors of television channels (“DPOs) that the launch of the following five (5) channels has been deferred till further intimation by Star,” it said in a notice.
Star in January had highlighted that there will be an expansion to its bouquet, Vijay Music, Star Movies Select, Star Gold 2 HD, and Star Sports 3 HD were expected to launch on 1st February while Disney Channel HD was slated to launch on 1st March.
Vijay Music, a Tamil music channel and will be the third channel in the language from Star in the South. Star Movies Select is a premium English movie offering from Star an SD format that was to have been launched. The channel’s proposition is 365 days, 365 stories offering viewers a new movie, one for each day of the year.
Vijay Music priced at Rs 1 while Star Movies Select has an MRP of Rs 2. Star Gold 2 HD and Star Sports 3 HD are priced at Rs 5 each while Disney Channel HD will be priced at Rs 10.
Star Sports 3 HD is the HD version of Star Sports 3 which was launched in September 2015 as a multi-lingual channel that offers audio feeds in the local language of respective states, this replaced Channel V which shut down.
The HD variant of Star Gold 2 will be Star Gold 2 HD, earlier known as Movies OK, the channel was rebranded following the broadcaster’s strategy of phasing out the OK brand. Prior to this, Life OK was rebranded as Star Bharat with a new brand proposition and content strategy.
Disney Channel HD will be the second HD channel in Star’s kids’ bouquet, it also owns and operates Baby TV HD. Disney Channel HD will be the third kid’s HD channel after Nick HD+ and Cartoon Network HD+.
