Star World is an Indian

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

launched on 15 December 1991. Originally scheduled to shut down on 30 November 2021, the shutdown of Star World and its HD feed has been not continued due to the delay of TRAI's new tariff rules. Star World is also available under the 'Channels' section of

Disney+ Hotstar The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

as a content hub that hosts shows from multiple Disney owned studios like

FX Productions FX Productions (FXP) is an American television and in-house production company owned by FX Networks (and jointed with Disney Television Studios), a division of the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company. The studio currently produc ...

ABC Signature ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. T ...

20th Television 20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Compa ...

etc. Star World is owned by

Disney Star Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, reac ...

, a fully owned subsidiary of

The Walt Disney Company India The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, known simply as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of the Indo Pacific region of the American media and entertainment conglomerate The Walt Disney Company and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharasht ...

. The channel aired popular English shows from around the globe and mainly focuses on 14 to 35-year-old urban population, with 24-year-old working professionals being its primary target demographic.

History

Star World was first launched in India on 15 December 1991 as a flagship feed of Star World Asia. Then known as StarPlus, it was the product of a partnership between

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

and

Zee Telefilms Essel Group, (also known as Zee Group) is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company and corporate promoter headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The company has had business interests in mass media, infrastructure and pac ...

. In order to avoid competition within, the contract between the two conglomerates clearly encased the territories of operation for both networks: StarPlus exclusively aired English programming, with

Zee TV Zee TV (stylised as ZEE TV) is a Hindi general entertainment pay television channel in India. It was launched on 2 October 1992, as the first privately owned TV channel in the country. It is owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. Zee TV also ...

being its

Hindi-language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

counterpart. However, on facing severe losses and very little market growth, Star violated the terms of the contract by slowly incorporating more and more Hindi programming into its schedule. Zee took Star to court over violation of the non-competing clause and shortly after that Star's partnership with Zee was dissolved on 30 June 2000. Consequently, Star TV split Star Plus' beam into two, in effect, providing two separate services for different regional audiences within Star TV's footprint.

Star India Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, reac ...

took over the reins of the network in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, which enabled the channel to provide appropriate programming at accessible viewing time for audience across different regions of Asia. Subsequently,

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of Soap opera, family dramas, ...

was transformed into a Hindi-language general entertainment channel, with Star World becoming the network's English-language GEC. Initially, the channel followed a scheduling format similar to American networks, with new episodes of shows being aired on a weekly basis, a few days after their US telecast. This was altered in early-2010 to shows being aired on a daily basis Weekdays (Monday-Friday), to consolidate the channel's core viewership and appeal to the population of India. Thereafter, programming was classified into weekdays, weekends and late night slots, with new shows being brought in on a monthly basis throughout the year. The channel's high-definition feed was launched on 15 April 2011.

Closure

On October 18, 2021, Disney announced that it would close down Star World and Star World Premiere HD on 30 November 2021, following similar decisions taken worldwide to close down English general entertainment channels. This will leave its youth channel

Disney International HD Disney International HD is an Indian pay television owned by The Walt Disney Company India subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. It is Disney India's first general entertainment channel operated by Disney Star and first channel to be broadcast i ...

, which consists of live action Disney Channel programming the only English entertainment channel from the broadcaster.

Programming

Star World primarily airs popular shows from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Star also holds exclusive broadcast, as well as streaming rights to all of HBO's original programming in India.

Programming blocks

Star World Weekend Binge On 25 April 2015, STAR World launched its weekend special programming block known as the ''Star World Weekend Binge''. The block's main features included the latest episodes critically acclaimed shows, airing throughout the day. Star World Now Trending On 21 September 2016, Star World introduced a new programming block called ''Star World Now Trending'' where the latest seasons of the most popular American shows were aired. Highlights included ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'', ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...

'', ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

'', ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

'', ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

'' and ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial drama television show, television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purce ...

'' Star World 10 Tickles Star World introduced a weeknight one-hour comedy block called ''Star World 10 Tickles'' on 4 October 2016. ''

Black-ish ''Black-ish'' (stylized as black·''ish'', `black·''ish'', and black''ish'') is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It aired on ABC from September 24, 2014, to April 19, 2022, running for eight seasons. ''Black-ish'' ...

'' and ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day (Zooey ...

'' were the first shows to be aired on this block. Later, the block was extended to weekends in November 2016 where the latest seasons of shows like ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...

'', '' Speechless'', ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of thr ...

'' and ''

Son of Zorn A son is a male reproduction, offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and s ...

'' were aired. Shows That Are Gonna Explode (STAGE) ''STAGE'' was launched in June 2019, to air underrated shows with potential on weeknights at 10 pm, within a fortnight of their US broadcast. The initial catalog of shows for this block included ''

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

'', ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. The series, broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States, premiered on January 12, 2014. Each season of the ...

'', ''

The Passage Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers * ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters * ''The Passage'' (1979 film), starring ...

'', ''

Pose Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

'', '' Succession'' and ''

Fosse/Verdon ''Fosse/Verdon'' is an American biographical miniseries starring Sam Rockwell as director–choreographer Bob Fosse and Michelle Williams as actress and dancer Gwen Verdon. The series, which tells the story of the couple's troubled personal a ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Fox Entertainment Group English-language television stations in India Television channels and stations established in 1994 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2021 1994 establishments in Maharashtra Television stations in Mumbai Disney Star