The sports television juggernaut rolls on. Come 15 August 2001, ESPN STAR Sports (ESS) broadcaster is going to launch two new services Star Sports Southeast Asia and Star Sports Asia. The channels - an outcome of a repackaging exercise of its Star Sports service will take the number of feeds it has in Asia to eight, reveals an ESS Press Release. Southeast Asian sports fans earlier shared a Star Sports feed with their North Asian counterparts, which carried a combination of English and Mandarin commentary, graphics, presentation and programming. With the introduction of the new feed, the service has been split, to better cater to the specific sports and language preferences of the two regions. The presentation, graphics and packaging of the televised sports will reflect these changes.

Star Sports Southeast Asia will continue as an encrypted service broadcasting 24-hours-a-day and seven-days-a-week. It is targeted at the Southeast Asian viewer and incorporates his/her viewing habits and preferences which includes soccer, Formula One motor racing, tennis and golf programming. The service will be available Asia-wide in English.

Star Sports Asia will be a free-to-air service, but will have programming around basketball, billiards/pool/snooker, baseball and bowling, which are popular among North Asian sports fans. Star Sports Asia will be available in China and Chinese Taipei, broadcast in Mandarin.

"This is part of our on-going customisation strategy, designed to bring our brands closer to our viewers," says ESS managing director Rik Dovey. "Localisation sends the message that we are listening and catering to viewership needs. Content is tailored to the culture, language and viewing habits of the region. Audiences want relevant content and familiarity."

Dovey adds that the two new feeds will function as even more efficient media for advertisers wanting to target specific audiences. "We have already done this in India and Taiwan and the returns in respect of brand equity and consumer loyalty are very apparent. Viewers get to see more of what they want, platforms are better able to sell our channel and advertisers can target their audience more efficiently, eliminating wastage It is a win-win situation for viewers, platform operators and advertisers," he says.

Three months into his position as head of Discovery Communications in India, managing director Deepak Shourie today announced a new programming strategy - ‘My Time on Discovery‘ - targeted at both viewers and advertisers. Discovery is introducing programming blocks that it says will appeal to the various target groups at times that they prefer while at the same time giving advertisers a focussed platform to reach key audiences.

The new initiative goes into effect from 1 October, 2001 and is based on studies that the channel undertook to research audience-viewing patterns across demographics, identifying the most popular day parts for each demographic, Shourie said.

Subsequently programmes were identified that would appeal to each target set and scheduled accordingly, hence -‘My Time on Discovery‘. The blocks that are being introduced are Sunrise (7am - 9am), Discovery Kids (3pm - 4pm), Action Zone (4pm - 5pm), Prime Time (8pm - 11pm), Friday Showcase (9pm - 11pm) and Super Sundays 7am - midnight); each of which caters to different groups.

NEW CHANNELS: Shourie also revealed that two new channels Discovery Health and Discovery Travel and Adventure would be rolled out in India in the coming 12 months. "We are trying to have the launch of Discovery Travel and Adventure by the end of the year but there is no certainty of that happening," Shourie said.

Discovery channels dubbed in southern Indian languages were also being planned, Shourie said. At present the network offers a 24-hour parallel Hindi audio feed in addition to an English audio feed.

Discovery Channel India, which launched in 1995, is a 24-hour pay channel, reaching over 21 million homes throughout India according to company estimates. Discovery also airs as a block on Vijay TV, every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM and 3 PM to 5 PM on Saturday in addition to an afternoon slot on national broadcaster Doordarshan‘s Metro channel. Available via PanAmSat IV, the network is operated and managed by Discovery Communications, Inc.

In addition to Discovery, the company also beams Animal Planet, a joint venture with BBC. Animal Planet was launched in India in March 1999 but is still struggling to establish itself. Asked about this Shourie admitted as much and said the channel "needed to be repositioned, restrategised and repromoted." He however could offer no answers on how this was to be managed.

Star India and Ronnie Screwvala‘s UTV are set to formalise a deal to hand over control of the Tamil language channel Vijay TV it owns to the Rupert Murdoch-promoted company on Wednesday, industry sources say.

When contacted both Screwvala and Star India CEO would only say that nothing had been finalised as yet and that there would be a joint press conference in Chennai on Thursday explaining all issues relating to Vijay TV.

The UTV group acquired Vijay TV from the UB liquor group in 1999 for Rs 180 million. According to reports, the stock holding in Vijay TV at present is: Founder Promoters - Ronnie Screwvala & Co hold 51 per cent, News Corp 12 per cent, Warburg Pincus 6 per cent, Mitsui Japan/ILFS & IVC / International Equity Partners / United Breweries 4 per cent, other institutional investors including Schroder‘s, etc 2 per cent and with the public 25 per cent.

Whatever may be the current status of ownership, Star virtually runs the channel anyway with it reportedly controlling programming, content, distribution and airtime sales. Business daily Economic Times reported that Star has appointed Ajay Vidyasagar as chief operating officer to manage the channel‘s affairs.

Sources say that what has been delaying a formal inking of the deal till now is working out what exactly that stakeholding structure should be. Star has already put in an application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Bureau (FIPB) for Vijay TV, sources say.

According to current indications, after the papers are signed on Wednesday, Mukerjea and Screwvala will be flying down to Chennai to explain things to senior personnel at Vijay TV what exactly the new dispensation would entail. Mukerjea, however stated he was going with Screwvala to Chennai for the press conference, nothing else.

Vijay TV?s acquisition is apparently part of Star?s long-term plans to enter the regional broadcasting market. Mukerjea has at one time been quoted as saying that "expansion in the South through Vijay TV was synergetic." Interestingly, at a press conference called at the end of June to celebrate a year of Star Plus becoming a completely 24-hour Hindi channel on 3 July, Mukerjea was quite categorical that a southern foray was not on the agenda at present.

If the deal does go through as expected, it could well make things difficult for rival Zee which has announced the takeover of Asianet Bharati as well as Asianet Kaveri ahead of renaming the channels Alpha Tamil and Alpha Kannada as the southern language additions to its Alpha regional bouquet.

In Tamil Nadu, the pecking order in the channel stakes is Sun TV (way ahead), Raj TV, Vijay TV and Asianet Bharati. It is the fight for the No.2 spot that should prove interesting viewing in the coming months.