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STAR World's not in the rat-race, says Vidyasagar
That, of course, has not come in the way of the channel launching four new international shows this month
"We are not in the race for a larger share of viewership, says, Ajay Vidyasagar, senior vice president marketing and communication, STAR India.
Vidyasagar claims that the viewers' profile on STAR World is different from other English channels say it AXN or ZEE English. "STAR World is aimed at the upwardly mobile population of the society, who frequently travels abroad, basically the SEC A+," Vidyasagar says.
This month STAR World has launched a couple of internationally popular shows and is on the verge of launching a few more in the coming weeks.
But doesn't that mean STAR World is trying to garner a larger share of viewership among the English general entertainment channels?
Vidyasagar tries to explain that the launch of the new shows has nothing to with the rat-race. He says, "We need to refresh our programming to maintain the interest level of our viewers and that's the only reason for launching these shows."
Last week, STAR World launched two new shows - 'Coupling' and 'The Office'. While Coupling is a comedy series that revolves around a group of friends and their relationships, The Office is also a comedy series and the story of the show revolves around a character called David Brent, a nightmarish middle-level manager.
'Undercover', another newly launched series, is a thriller which focuses on the secret lives of an elite crime fighting unit, who by going undercover, confronts the country's deadliest and most untouchable lawbreakers and manages to bust the criminals.
But the major attraction on the channel will be the reality show called 'The Apprentice' where 16 Ivy League MBA graduates and street entrepreneurs with no college education, will endure rigorous tasks each week while living together in a hip Manhattan loft apartment.
The tasks will test their intelligence, chutzpah and street-smart nature. They will face the challenges of living in close quarters and must complete sometimes humorous, but always difficult, job assignments and will be forced to think outside the box in order to outshine each other to get to the top.
The winner of the competition will be granted the dream job of a lifetime with The Trump Organization and a salary of $250,000.
The channel is banking heavily on this show called The Apprentice, which will premiere on Indian television on September 17. Vidyasagar says, "There is great demand for international programming, especially among STAR world's TG and we will continue to bring-up such shows."
On September 10, STAR World will telecast Tony Awards 2004, the event to honour theatre personalities from the US. In the event, Tony Bennett and Mary J Blige will perform a musical salute to Broadway with the classic tunes 'Lullaby Of Broadway' and 'What I Did For Love'. Musical performances from nominated shows include: 'Assassins', 'Avenue Q', 'The Boy From Oz', 'Caroline or 'Change', 'Fiddler on the Roof', 'Wicked' and 'Wonderful Town'.
© 2004 agencyfaqs!