Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific was a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

–based

commercial broadcasting Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

company operating multiple specialty television channels. The company was founded in 1991 by Hong Kong - Canadian businessman

Richard Li Richard Li Tzar-kai is a Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist. The founder and chairman of the private investment group Pacific Century Group (PCG), Li started his career in the 1990s with the founding of STAR TV, a pan-Asian televisi ...

. Originally established by

Hutchison Whampoa Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...

and later acquired by the original

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

, Star TV was once the most prominent satellite television broadcaster in Asia. On 20 March 2019, following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Fox Networks Group Asia and Star India became a part of Disney, and Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific merged with the

Disney Branded Television Disney Branded Television is a unit of Disney General Entertainment Content which oversees development, production and acquisition of content geared towards children, teenagers and families for Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Jr. and Disney XD. ...

unit. DNG Asia Pacific's channels were available in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

History

Launch

The company was originally registered to the Companies Registry of Hong Kong as Quford Limited on 31 August 1990. The company was renamed Hutchvision Channel Services Limited on 31 January 1991 before becoming Satellite Television Asian Region Limited () on 4 July 1991, or STAR. It was established by Hutchison Whampoa and was headed by

. Li is the son of

Li Ka-Shing Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 29 July 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is the senior advisor for CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings, after he retired from the Chairman of the Board in May ...

(founder of

Cheung Kong Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited, is a multinational conglomerate, based in Hong Kong. It was one of Hong Kong's leading multi-national conglomerates. The company merged with its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa on 3 June 2015, as part of a ma ...

, a subsidiary of which is Hutchison Whampoa). Hutchvision's plan interfered in the development of Hong Kong's cable network, facing concerns that it would cause competition for both viewers and advertisers from other satellite and terrestrial networks. At the time, Wharf Holdings had a 28% stake, followed by Sun Hung Kai at 27%,

Run Run Shaw Sir Run Run Shaw (born Shao Renleng; 19 November 1907 – 7 January 2014), also known as Shao Yifu and Siu Yat-fu, was a Hong Kong businessman, filmmaker, and philanthropist. He was one of the foremost influential movie moguls in the East As ...

's Shaw Brothers at 10% and US West and Belgium's Coditel at 25% each. As of September 1990, it had twelve transponders available on AsiaSat 1, but ending the lease before 31 December was a possibility. In December 1990, it had set a new deadline to start its services -7 the end of 1991. The initial plan outlined two to three channels in its initial phase, catering mainly to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand, and carrying music and sports. The Asiasat-1 beam enabled the channels to be picked up by a potential audience of 2.3 billion viewers. There were talks of the

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. is the state media, state-owned media conglomerate of Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the investment arm of the Government of Singapore—it owns and operates television channels, radio, and digital media properties. ...

holding shares in the company, with its main goal being delivering its programming abroad. The company operated its television channels under a unified brand, Star TV (). The company's strategy was to target the top 5 percent of Asian elites who spoke English and had bought power to offer pan-Asian English programming. In its initial years, the channels were broadcast over AsiaSat 1, a communication satellite operated by Asia Satellite Telecommunications (a consortium of Hutchison Whampoa, China International Trust and Investment Corporation and

Cable & Wireless Worldwide Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (informally Cable & Wireless) was a British multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2010 by the split of Cable & Wireless plc into two ...

). Its digital electronic services were funded by

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

. Hutchvision itself owned one third of AsiaSat and Star TV used ten out of the twenty-four transponders in the AsiaSat 1 satellite. The channels were able to reach from the Far East to the Middle East, broadcasting across 38 countries around the region. Star TV's had five channels on their initial line-up: Star Sports, Star Music, Star News, Star Chinese and Star Entertainment; Star Entertainment was only available with a paid subscription. On 1 October 1992, Star TV added

Zee TV ZEE TV also known as Z TV is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched on 1 October 1992 as the oldest privately owned television channel in India. History ...

(which targeted

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-speaking audiences) from Zee Telefilms in India to its line-up. In 1993,

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

became the exclusive advisor to Hutchison Whampoa Limited and the Li family in their largest Asian media merger to date. In February 1993, Julian Mounter, former director-general of

Television New Zealand Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, TVNZ+, streaming service, and 1N ...

, was appointed as president and Chief Executive of the company.Ilott, Terry
Mounter: prez, Hutchvision
'' Variety'' 8 February 1993 In March 1993, Star TV was partnered with Asia Business News. By that year, the service's advertisement bookings were extensive. While starting their pay-TV services, Julian Mounter — the chief executive and the president of HutchVision — stated that the company planned to launch the AsiaSat 2 satellite sometime in the subsequent two years. Mounter also signed agreements with four companies, mostly programme suppliers, stating that the company would have as many as six channels operating by April 1994. He also said that the programmes would include more English and Chinese movie channels, a business channel, a children's channel, a documentary channel, and another entertainment channel. With the launch of the new AsiaSat satellite, Star TV would have the capability to broadcast as many as one-hundred channels. In June 1993, Star TV and Wharf Cable signed a deal in which Hong Kong's new cable television provider would carry Star TV's channels. However, the deal was terminated in February 1994 in a dispute between the two parties.

Sale to News Corporation

Star TV's viewership across Asia increased over the years and it attracted advertisers, but the business was not turning a profit. The company was looking for an

Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

partner for financial investments, along with additional English language programming and technical assistance. They were hoping to launch a pay-television system that would carry encrypted channels. On 1 May 1993, Pearson approached Star TV's owners, seeking a partnership, and was expected to invest up to GBP 100 million. Pearson (which owned minor stake in British broadcasters

BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

and

Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television was a British broadcasting company, which is now part of ITV plc. History The company was created in June 1992 from the merger of the Independent Television broadcasters Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Televisio ...

at the time, and had just acquired

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

) was looking to expand its media business outside the UK, especially because the British laws at the time did not allow Pearson to expand more on UK television business. Pearson was looking for 66% of the company, but the deal was reported to have required the Hong Kong side to remain active shareholders, causing the deal to fall through. The initial negotiations with

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

were reported to have floundered after the Australian businessman demanded a controlling stake in the Hong Kong company. On the same day, Murdoch's

purchased 63.6% of Star TV for $525 million US dollars, half in cash, half in News Corporation's ordinary shares, blocking offers from Pearson. The deal came after News Corporation failed to acquire 22% of

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

because of regulatory issues.Tam, Luisa
News buys Star TV
''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

'' 27 July 1993 ''SCMP'' was owned by

at the time of announcement. News Corporation acquired the remaining 36.4% for US$299 million in July 1995.Kennedy, Sean
Mogul takes all of Star
''

'' 19 July 1995Murdoch Takes Over Star
''Variety'' 24 July 1995 The Li family and Hutchison Whampoa would retain its shares in Hutchvision Hong Kong Limited, which uplinked Star TV's channels. With the money he made from the 1993 sale, Richard Li went on to establish Pacific Century Group.Courtney, Christine
Hong Kong Rich Kid Turns Asia on Its Headset : Media: Richard Li declines family job to found satellite-TV venture. Next goal is pan-Asian 'information exchange.'
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' 11 April 1994 It was later theorized by author Shiau Hong-chi that Murdoch's purchase of Star TV was based on a theory of media globalization, assuming that people across every nation and language would watch the same TV programmes, with the original plan for Star TV being to broadcast popular American shows to Asian audiences. However, the plan was unsuccessful, with Star TV being forced to invest heavily into producing local shows for their Asian audience.Shiau, Hong-chi. ''Animating the cute, the mean and the beautiful: the production and consumption of animation: Taiwan's struggles in the age of globalization''. Saarbrucken ermany VDM, Verlag Dr. Muller. 2008. On 1 August 1993, following News Corporation's takeover, Julian Mounter resigned as Chief Executive of the company.

Sam Chisholm Samuel Hewlings Chisholm AO (8 October 1939 – 9 July 2018) was a New Zealand-born Australian media executive who was a significant figure in the Australian media. Career Chisholm attended King's College, Auckland. Chisholm had been ...

(head of BSkyB at the time) became acting Chief Executive of News Corporation before he was formally appointed. On 26 July 1993, Star TV was purchased by

for US$525 million. This was Murdoch's most important acquisition since the debt-restructuring crisis in 1990. He also bought Hutchvision, Star TV's parent company. As of 1993, Star TV's channel line-up consisted of MTV Asia,

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

, a sports channel, an English-language entertainment channel, and a Chinese-language entertainment channel. It also planned to launch a movie channel in Chinese and Hindi later the same year. The Star TV network reached an estimate of 45 million viewers and was the only large satellite network to reach all of Asia. On 1 September 1993, in a speech Murdoch made in London coinciding with the start of

Sky Multichannels Sky Multichannels was a package of analogue television services offered by BSkyB on the Astra satellites at 19.2° east from 1 September 1993 to 27 September 2001, which started off with 15 channels before expanding to over 40. History Overv ...

and relayed to associates in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney, Murdoch announced a plan to combine his synergies around the world to create a global network of television channels, as well as a potential partnership with

, who at the time had the largest Mandarin-language television library in the world. In January 1994, James Griffiths resigned as a managing director, with Gary Davey becoming his successor. With the controversial removal of

from the company's satellite television offerings for

Northeast Asia Northeast Asia or Northeastern Asia is a geographical Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia. Its northeastern landmass and islands are bounded by the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean. The term Northeast Asia was popularized during the 1930s by Ame ...

in mid-April 1994 (see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

), Star TV replaced the BBC channel with two channels; English-language film channel Star Movies and Chinese-language film channel

Star Chinese Movies Star Chinese Movies () was a Chinese language pay television channel owned by Disney Networks Group Pacific Ltd. The channel mainly broadcast Chinese-language films (including Chinese films, Cantonese films, Taiwanese films, Singaporean f ...

. The decision was made while Star TV was considering the launch of a documentary and educational channel that two companies had a joint-venture in. In April 1994, Star TV formed a three-year partnership with

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial televis ...

, made as Star TV struggled to be part of the Chinese-language programme battle with

. The joint-venture marked the beginning of their long-term cooperation. This agreement superseded the previous programme supply deal made in 1991. As part of the deal, Star TV acquired one-thousand hours annually of prime-time dramas and special programming dubbed in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

. ATV would also provided dubbing and other facilities for the Star TV Network. The joint-venture co-produced fewer than 40 hours of quality dramas per year, broadcast simultaneously, with ATV showing the original programming in

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

in the

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

territory, and Star TV showing them in

. In addition, Star TV operated the Chinese Channel in competition to TVB. Star TV would go on to purchase a library of more than 570 Chinese films from the Golden Harvest Group and announced a deal for the production of more than 50 films in the next three years by Media Asia Film. Star TV and Viacom (

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

) ended a partnership that supplied

music television Music television is a type of television programming which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from recording artists, usually on dedicated television channels' broadcasting on satellite, cable, or streaming platforms. Music televis ...

programming, so Star TV launched

Channel V Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...

to replace the American brand. The Indian version launched on 23 May 1994, followed by 4 additional versions: Channel V International, Channel V Thailand, Channel V Korea, Channel V Japan. Versions in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

and

would later be added. Star TV split its satellite signal to both northern and southern beams, resulting in a change for both operations. The northern beam included Prime Sports,

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented reali ...

, Star Movies and

Star Chinese Channel Star Chinese Channel () was a Taiwanese general entertainment television channel operated by The Walt Disney Company (Taiwan) Ltd. Its programming featured dramas, variety shows, lifestyle programs, and talk shows in Mandarin. Launched on 21 O ...

, while the southern beam had Prime Sports, Channel V, Star Plus, BBC WSTV,

and Zee Cinema. However, Star Sports' northern beam featured soccer and gymnastics, while the southern beam included cricket for Indian viewers. After the purchase of a 49.9% stake in Zee TV in early 1994, the northern beam launched

Zee News Zee News is an Indian Hindi-language right-wing news channel owned by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group. It launched on 27 August 1999 and is the flagship channel of the Zee Media Corporation. The channel has been involved in several controve ...

and Zee Cinema. Star TV channels were rebroadcast terrestrially in Brunei as of late 1994. The network proposed an expansion to Malaysia in late 1994, with a spokesman stating it would be "a place to do business." This would mark the end of a feud between Malaysian and British media. The network reached Indonesia in 1995 through an agreement with satellite provider Indovision. 15 channels were planned to launch in the second half of the year. The viewership share of Star TV in Taiwan in 1995 was at 42%, attributed to the launch of Star Movies, which had many viewers in the country. On 30 March 1995, the satellite radio station Star Radio launched in Cantonese and Mandarin for North Asia, with additional English service for South Asia and the Middle East. In the summer of 1995, Star TV considered launching least thirty channels on the service when AsiaSat 2 was launched. The new channels let the Star TV Network further customize its services for other regions and cultures. In January 1996, Star TV formed a third-party joint-venture, Phoenix Satellite Television Corporation, offering three channels targeting Chinese viewers, Phoenix Chinese Channel, Star Sports, and Star Chinese Movies. On 30 March 1996, at 7 pm

Hong Kong Time Hong Kong Time (abbreviation: HKT; ) is the time in Hong Kong, observed at UTC+08:00 all year round. The Hong Kong Observatory is the official timekeeper of the Hong Kong Time. It is indicated as Asia/Hong_Kong in the IANA time zone database ...

, Star TV separated into Star Plus and Star Chinese Channel in certain areas. In 1997, Star TV launched the Star Select package of television channels aimed at viewers in the

via Orbit (now

OSN Orbit Showtime Network, commonly known as OSN, is a Dubai-based Satellite television, satellite TV company, serving the Middle East and North Africa region. OSN mainly broadcasts programming from TV networks owned by Paramount Global, Warner B ...

.) In 1998, Star TV and

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

were in discussion to launch a new MGM movie channel in India. Rathikant Basu also stated that the company was considering to launch four new regional channels spanning 4 languages: Bengali,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, Gujarati and Punjabi. In December 1998, Star TV Network's channels were supposed to be removed on Indovision due to a disagreement between the company and Indovision, however, a court later upheld Star TV's decision to not broadcast its channels across Indonesia. During the same month, Star TV announced its partnership with Phoenix Satellite TV, and in cooperation with the European-based Chinese News and Entertainment, launched Phoenix Europe, a Mandarin-language channel that broadcast entertainment and news from Phoenix Television's libraries to European audiences in August of the same year. In May 1999, Star TV migrated its channels from AsiaSat 1 and 2 to AsiaSat 3S. By late-1999 to the early-2000s, Star TV used AsiaSat 3S and Palapa C2 to broadcast across Asia and the Middle East in 53 countries, with an audience of up to 300 million viewers. At the time, programming consisted of

, Phoenix Chinese Channel,

Star World Star World, currently stylized logo-wise in capital letters and formerly known as Star Entertainment Channel and Star Plus respectively, is an Asian English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 by ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, Star Sports, Star Movies,

, Phoenix Movies,

Viva Cinema Viva Cinema (formerly Viva TV and stylized in uppercase as VIVACINEMA) is a Philippine entertainment television channel owned by Viva Communications, available on satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typicall ...

Star News ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. Initially launched as Star News in 1998, it was later acquired by the ABP Group (ABP). It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 21st edition ...

, Zee Cinema,

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

and the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

. Indian operations alone were estimated to account for 55% of Star TV's revenues in Asia at the time. On 15 January 2000, Star TV added

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

to its line-up, who handled distribution and ad sales for the channel. This marked their second partnership with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, who also owned ESPN. On 1 July 2000, Zee TV ended partnership with Star TV. The Hong Kong-based company converted Star Plus to a Hindi entertainment channel, and introduced Star World as an English entertainment replacement for the region. In 2000, Star TV would heavily focus on their Chinese and Indian markets. In India, the conversion of Star Plus into a Hindi general entertainment channel was received well. The Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire,

Kaun Banega Crorepati ''Kaun Banega Crorepati'' (simply ''KBC''; English: ''Who Will Become a Crorepati'') is an Indian Hindi-language television game show. It is the official Hindi adaptation of the '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' franchise. It is presented ...

, and the Hindi Soap Opera

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi ''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' ( ''Because Even a Mother-in-Law Was a Daughter-in-Law Once'') is an Indian Hindi-language soap opera that aired from 3 July 2000 to 6 November 2008 on Star Plus. The show was co-produced by Shobha Kapoor a ...

, surpassed their rivals —

and

Sony Entertainment Television Sony Entertainment Television (abbreviated as SET) is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel that was launched in 1995 and is owned by Culver Max Entertainment, a division of Sony Pictures. History This chann ...

— in ratings to become the most watched channel in Asia. On New Year's Day 2001, at midnight, the company was rebranded from Star TV to Star, reflecting the company's evolution from a television brand to a multi-service, multi-platform brand. In Chinese, the company referred itself as ''Xīngkōng Chuánméi'' () instead of ''Wèixīng Diànshì.'' It also introduced a new set of logos. As of 2024, the 2001 logos are phased out from use by any Star TV channels since 2008, excluding

Xing Kong Xing Kong is a Standard Chinese, Mandarin-language television channel targeting Mainland China, currently owned by Star China Media (a subsidiary of China Media Capital). The channel was originally launched by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, Star ...

ANTV ANTV (abbreviation from Andalas Televisi, stylized antv, alternatively spelled ANteve which was also known as a brand before 2003) is an Indonesian free-to-air television broadcaster based in South Jakarta. It is owned by Visi Media Asia (Viva ...

and tvOne's news programme ''Kabar''. Static Design (a broadcasting design arm of Static 2358, now-defunct) designed the company and the seven channels' identities. Star TV aired the high-definition programme ''Angel'' in 2006 in cooperation with Singaporean Mediacorp Studios. The show was scheduled to shoot 40 episodes, and was filmed in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The show was aired on

in Taiwan and on

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. is the state media, state-owned media conglomerate of Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the investment arm of the Government of Singapore—it owns and operates television channels, radio, and digital media properties. ...

in Singapore, with Star TV handling distribution and sales in other countries. In addition,

was announced to have invested in three high-definition films, to be produced by Derek Yee Tung-sing. Additionally, the

produced around one thousand hours of high-definition programming commissioned for the Asian market (excluding Japan).

2009 restructure, refocus on East and Southeast Asia

On 19 August 2009, News Corporation announced a restructure of Star. Star India and Star Greater China would be separated from Star's headquarters in Hong Kong, and the heads of the former two companies would report directly to

James Murdoch James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (born 13 December 1972) is an American - British businessman. He is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairma ...

, News Corporation's then-chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia. *

Star India Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

took over all of Star's operations in India, as well as sales and distribution of Fox-branded channels in the region. It also took over Star's distribution offices in the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States. * Star Greater China would oversee

, Star Chinese Movies 2,

and

Mainland China, as well as the Fortune Star film library. * The original Star TV company became Fox International Channels Asia Pacific, and would focus on East and Southeast Asia. It also took over the representation of FIC channels from NGC Network Asia, LLC (channels already being distributed by Star). The company would continue to distribute its channels in the Middle East, and would take responsibility of the distribution of Star India and Star Greater China's channels in Asia outside their respective home markets. Despite the 2009 reorganisations, the company did not immediately change its legal name from Satellite Television Asian Region Limited, waiting until 2 September 2014 to change its legal name to Fox International Channels Asia Pacific Limited () In August 2010, it was announced that the News Corporation would sell a controlling stake in its assets held in mainland China to China Media Capital (CMC).Young, Doug
News Corp sells controlling stake in China TV channels

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

9 August 2010Chu, Karen
News Corp. sells Chinese-language channels to CMC

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

9 August 2010 (via ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'')Coonan, Clifford
China Media Capital buys Star China
'' Variety'' 9 August 2010 Xing Kong (both domestic and international versions), Channel V Mainland China, and the Fortune Star film library were included in the sale, and a joint venture named

Star China Media Star China Media (), also known as Star (CM) Holdings, is a PRC, Chinese media company owned by China Media Capital. The company operates television channels Xing Kong and Channel V, Channel V Mainland China, and maintains Fortune Star film lib ...

was created in the process. CMC acquired the remaining stake in Star China Media in January 2014. In June 2012, it was announced that the News Corporation would buy

ESPN International ESPN International is a family of Broadcasting of sports events, sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1983, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Current operations Canada ESPN Int ...

's share in the joint venture ESPN Star Sports. The versions of ESPN broadcast in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia were rebranded as Fox Sports on 28 January 2013, and Star Sports became Fox Sports 2 on 15 August 2014. The Fox Sports rebrand did not affect India and East Asia: In India, Star India took over ESPN Star Sports' Indian subsidiary, and kept ESPN branding until 6 November 2013, when all of Star India's sports channels were relaunched under the Star Sports brand. A version of Star Sports broadcast to mainland China and South Korea kept the brand, however, mainland China's version was renamed Star Sports 2 on 1 January 2014. In the wake of the

2011 News Corporation scandals In mid-2011, out of a series of investigations following up the ''News of the World'' royal phone hacking scandal of 2005–2007, a series of related scandals developed surrounding other News Corporation properties—where initially the scandal ...

, the original News Corporation was split into

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

and the new

News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...

on 28 June 2013, with the television businesses (which FIC Asia was a part of) going to 21st Century Fox. In October 2013, 12.15% of shares in

Phoenix Television Phoenix Television is a majority State-owned enterprise, state-owned television network that offers Standard Chinese, Mandarin and Cantonese-language channels that serve mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and other markets with substantial C ...

held by 21st Century Fox (through Star) was sold to

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm in ...

for HK$1.66 billion (about US$213.73 million). This and 2014 sale of Star China Media marked 21st Century Fox's exit from the Mandarin entertainment television market in mainland China. By 2014, Fox International Channels Middle East took over the distribution of Star World, Star Movies,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

-branded channels, Fox-branded channels,

International, Baby TV and Sky News in the

Middle East and North Africa The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

from Star Select (now renamed Fox Networks Group Middle East, the Middle East business together with FNG Asia Pacific, still a part of the wider FNG Asia operations). In January 2016, the company's parent unit, Fox International Channels, was announced to be split into three divisions, which would see the heads of newly renamed Fox Networks Group Europe, Fox Networks Group Latin America and Fox Networks Group Asia all reporting to CEO Peter Rice and COO Randy Freer at Fox Networks Group in the United States, thus abolishing Fox International Channels as a separate unit from 21st Century Fox's television business in the U.S. Accordingly, the company was officially launched new name and logo to becomes Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific Limited () on 29 February 2016. On 5 December 2017,

's Chairman and CEO

Uday Shankar Uday Shankar (born Uday Shankar Choudhary; 8 December 1900 – 26 September 1977) was an Indian dancer and choreographer, best known for creating a fusion style of dance, adapting European theatrical techniques to Indian classical dance, imbu ...

was appointed as 21st Century Fox's president for Asia, and the President of Fox Networks Group Asia would report directly to Shankar (instead of the equivalent at FNG U.S.).

Disney ownership and channel operations closure

With the acquisition of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets by

, FNG Asia Pacific (including FNG Taiwan and FNG's remaining businesses in mainland China), as well as Star India, became a part of Disney. FNG Asia Pacific were integrated into Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (now Disney International Operations.) Fox Networks Group Asia was split into three, as to plug into the Disney International structure with offices in Shanghai, Mumbai, and Singapore. The reconfiguration and layoff began on 29 June 2020, with layoffs focused on FNG Asia's Hung Hom headquarters, which date back to their 1993 acquisition by PCCW. The Walt Disney Company announced the official closure of 18 of their linear pay TV channels on 1 October 2021, as Disney prioritized the rollout of

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

across Asian territories (or

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

for Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand). Those channels included

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

, which broadcast

Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

along with all four major Grand Slams and most

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

fights; and Fox Movies, which also included Fox Action Movies and

Fox Family Movies Fox Family Movies was a Southeast Asian pay television channel owned by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of List of assets owned by The Walt Disney Company#Disney International Content and Operations, Disney International Operations ...

.Multiple sources: * * * This meant that the latest

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, and

20th Century The 20th century began on 1 January 1901 (MCMI), and ended on 31 December 2000 (MM). It was the 10th and last century in the 2nd millennium and was marked by new models of scientific understanding, unprecedented scopes of warfare, new modes of ...

films were not available for a period. Most of Fox Sports Asia programming headed elsewhere after the closure, such as on

SPOTV SPOTV is a South Korean pay television network, which features sports programming and some sports-related talk shows. Founded in 2010, the network is the fourth Pay television, premium sports network in South Korea following by KBS N, KBS N S ...

, which replaced the main Fox Sports channel on launch while also airing the remainder of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship. After a while, the latest Walt Disney, Marvel and 20th Century films were released through Disney+ (or Disney+ Hotstar). General entertainment contents which aired on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and

Fox Life Fox Life, now rebranded as Star Life and FX Life, was an international pay television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group in 2004. The network has been discontinued in several markets over time. The network's scheduling has varied wi ...

are either moved to Disney+ or, following the shutdown, through Fox's rival pay TV networks. Following the shutdown, some of their employees (including Singapore-based marketing leads Daniel Tan and Shoba Martin) left the company.Multiple sources: * * The decision to close the channels has been criticized due to poor Internet connectivity in some areas and the lack of a plan to rollout Disney+ to smaller regions. In Taiwan, Disney Channel officially ceased broadcasting on New Year's Day 2022, with Disney programming being relocated to

permanently. Both Fox Movies and Fox rebranded themselves as Star Movies Gold (which, unlike Star Movies HD, has different movie lineups and uses branding from the first iteration) and

respectively. This marked the only country with Disney channels operating under the Star brand alongside the existing

and

. The remaining linear pay TV channels, including

, ceased their transmission on 1 October 2023 in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and (for

) South Korea, with Taiwan following suit on 1 January 2024.

Controversy

The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and Star TV originally signed a deal under which the Hong Kong operator would carry the BBC channel for 10 years. However, in March 1994, the BBC and Star TV reached a deal after an out-of-court settlement that would gradually drop

from the satellite broadcaster's offerings. BBC WSTV would be dropped from the channel line-up for Northeast Asia by mid-April that year, but would be available in the rest of Asia until 31 March 1996.Murdoch's Star TV to drop BBC
UPI 22 March 1994 The deal came after demands from the government of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It was alleged that the PRC government was unhappy with BBC coverage of China and Murdoch's September 1993 speech, which declared that "(telecommunications) have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere... satellite broadcasting makes it possible for information-hungry residents of many closed societies to bypass state-controlled television channels." The Beijing government threatened to block Star TV in the huge

mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC) ...

market if the BBC was not withdrawn. The former prime minister,

Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the 4th premier of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from ...

, requested and obtained the ban of satellite dishes throughout the country. There were also reported concerns surrounding editorial control of BBC WSTV after News Corporation's acquisition of Star TV. The subsequent removal of the BBC channel and many ensuing declarations from Murdoch led critics to believe the businessman was striving to appease the Chinese government in order to have the ban lifted. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) gave Rupert Murdoch a mock award titled the "P.U.-Litzer Prize" for "Media Hypocrite of the Year" in 1994. In 2001, the BBC and CITVC signed a deal that would make

BBC World BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...

available to "upmarket hotels, as well as guest houses and foreign apartments" in mainland China.

References

External links

Disney Networks Group
in Taiwan * : The startv.com domain is now owned by

. *
Star TV
at the

Museum of Broadcast Communications The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum that showcases historic and contemporary radio and television content. It is headquartered in Chicago. Museum locations (1987–present) The Museum of Broadcast Communications wa ...

's Encyclopedia of Television {{Star TV Direct broadcast satellite services Television in Singapore Broadcasting in Singapore Mass media in Singapore Mass media in Southeast Asia Mass media in Taiwan Television in Taiwan Broadcasting in Taiwan Defunct mass media in Hong Kong Mass media companies established in 1990 Mass media companies disestablished in 2024