Star Plus and Sony Launched on Cox Communications in US

[Udumbu]

STAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation and Asia's leading media and entertainment company, announced the launch of the most popular Indian television channel, STAR India PLUS on Cox Communications' digital cable platform in Orange County and Palos Verdes, California. The launch bolsters Cox Communications' current lineup of Indian content for viewers across Orange County which includes three other South Asian channels.

Cox Communications' viewers in Orange County and Palos Verdes can now tune to Star India Plus and SET India for eight consecutive years. Both the channels will be offered individually or as a package with other South Asian networks. Cox Communications is the third-largest cable provider in the U.S.

As India's number one Hindi pay-TV channel, STAR India PLUS regularly features many of the top programs in the country week in, week out. Prime time programs on STAR India PLUS include household-name soap operas such as Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thii and Bidaayi as well as some of the nation's favorite reality and game shows including Nache Baliye and STAR Voice of India.

"We're excited at the prospect of growing our relationship with Cox, one of the nation's leading cable platforms, by rolling out India's number one channel to new audiences in Orange County and Palos Verdes" said STAR senior vice president for distribution and sales and head of STAR's North American and European offices David Wisnia. "We look forward to continuing to work with Cox to get more of our highly rated South Asian channels to their viewers across the U.S."

"Orange County and Palos Verdes have a large multicultural audience, so it's a priority for Cox to provide a variety of international channels to the Cox customers who want them," said Colleen Langner, vice-president, sales and marketing, Cox Communications in Orange County and Palos Verdes.

Star TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp., controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming and also owns the world's largest contemporary Chinese film library. The group currently operates 18 channels in India.

[Albert E]

Cox Communications also offers others international channels including Zee TV, ART (Arabic programming), CCTV-4 (Chinese programming in Mandarin), CCTV-9, Channel One Russia (C1R) (Russian programming), CNN International, CTI-Zhong Tian Channel (Chinese-Mandarin), GMA Pinoy, ImaginAsian, MYX (Asian American), Phoenix InfoNews (Chinese programming in Mandarin), Phoenix North America Chinese Channel (Chinese programming in Mandarin), Raitalia (Italian), Saigon Broadcasting Television Network (SBTN) (Vietnamese programming), The Filipino Channel (Filipino), TV5MONDE (French programming), TV Asia (South Asian programming in Hindi, Gujarati, English and other regional Indian languages), TV Japan (Japanese) and tvK (Korean) .