San Ramon, CA / Hong Kong, December 17, 2008 –
Comcast, the U.S.’s leading provider of entertainment, information and
communications, and STAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation and
Asia’s leading media and entertainment company, today announced the launch
of STAR India PLUS across Comcast’s digital cable platform in California on
December 18.
The launch of STAR India PLUS on Comcast will complement a robust lineup of
Indian content for viewers across Northern California, home of the second
largest South Asian population in the U.S. STAR India PLUS will be available
in all of Comcast’s California service areas including Sacramento, Fresno,
Stockton, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the surrounding areas, with
the exception of the North Santa Barbara and Lompoc, CA systems.
As part of the signed distribution deal, four additional top rated Indian
channels, STAR ONE, STAR India GOLD, STAR India NEWS and VIJAY will also be
available for Comcast distribution.
As India’s number one Hindi cable channel, STAR India PLUS regularly
features many of the top programs in the country week in and week out. Prime
time programs on STAR India PLUS include household-name soap operas such as
Kis Desh Mein hai Meraa Dil and Bidaai as well as some of the
India’s favorite reality and game shows including Nache Baliye and
STAR Voice of India.
STAR India PLUS will be available via subscription on channel 250 for $11.99
per month and included in a package with the other channels for a discounted
rate.
“We are excited to embark on this partnership with Comcast, the nation’s
leading cable platform, by making STAR India PLUS available to Comcast’s
California subscribers,” said David Wisnia, STAR’s Senior Vice President for
Distribution and Sales and head of STAR’s North American and European
offices. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Comcast in
the near future and sharing more of our top rated Indian content with South
Asian viewers throughout the country.”
“We are pleased to launch STAR India PLUS in California,” said Natalie
Rouse, Director, National Ethnic Marketing at Comcast. “One of Comcast’s
goals with our rich variety of ethnic programming is to bring our
multicultural customers closer to their culture, and STAR India PLUS does
exactly that.”
To subscribe to STAR India PLUS on Comcast in California, customers can call
1-800-407-8405 or visit
www.comcast.com/internationaltv for more information.
About STAR
STAR is a leading media and entertainment company in Asia. STAR broadcasts
over 60 television services in ten languages to more than 300 million
viewers across 53 Asian countries. STAR channels cover all genres including
general entertainment (Star Plus, Xing Kong, Star Chinese Channel, Star One,
Star Utsav, Star Jalsha, Star Pravah, Star World, Vijay, antv, Phoenix
Chinese Channel), sports (ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket), movies (Star
Chinese Movies, Star Chinese Movies 2, Star Gold, Star Movies), music
(Channel [V]), and news and current affairs (Star News, Star Ananda, Star
Majha, Phoenix InfoNews Channel).
STAR controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming and also
owns the world's largest contemporary Chinese film library, with more than
600 titles, featuring superstars including Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and
Bruce Lee. In partnership with leading companies, STAR businesses extend to
filmed entertainment, television production, cable systems and distribution,
direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV broadcasting, wireless and digital
services. STAR is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation.
www.startv.com
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.net)
is the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and
communication products and services. With 24.4 million cable customers, 14.7
million high-speed Internet customers, and 6.1 million Comcast Digital Voice
customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management
and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming
content.
Comcast's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment
Television, Style Network, Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV
One, ten Comcast SportsNet networks and Comcast Interactive Media, which
develops and operates Comcast's Internet businesses, including Comcast.net (www.comcast.net).
Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major
holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia
76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.
Contacts:
STAR US
Sagnik Roy
+1 310-369-8199
sagnik.roy@us.startv.com
STAR Hong Kong
Eric Abelev
+852 2621 8606
eabelev@startv.com
Comcast
Bryan Byrd
+1 916-515-2821
bryan_byrd@cable.comcast.com