NEW DELHI: Star News is all set to storm the Japan market by launching its services there later this month.

Confirming the development, Star News CEO Uday Shankar told Indiantelevision.com, “The news channel will be available in Japan from this month and would be on a pay platform.”

According to Shankar, international distribution of the channel is being handled by News Corp, one of the shareholders in MCCS that is the managing company for Star News and its present Bengali sibling Star Ananda.

News Corp feels that the Hindi news channel would have viewership in Japan, though limited. Star News, one of the most widely distributed Indian news channel, has international footprints in South East Asia, Central Asia,
Middle East, the UK, the USA and Australia.

In Japan, Star News is likely to be on SKY PerfecTV, a leading multi-channel digital satellite television platform.

Meanwhile MCCS, a 74:26 joint venture between Kolkata-based ABP TV and Hong Kong-headquartered Star Group, continues to explore the possibilities of expanding its portfolio base in India.

Pointing out that talks on launching new products is an “ongoing process” between the two shareholders of the company, Shankar said, “Both ABP and Star are committed to make the requisite investment as and when the needs arise.”

Asked whether MCCS would make more Indian language forays in 2006, Shankar did not rule out the possibility. “Some projects are being actively discussed and such ventures take time to materialise. But I am also not saying we would not launch any channel (in 2006).”

A few days ago, Star News completed three years of operation under a new regime after the divorce from its long-standing content partner, NDTV, which has gone ahead since then to launch its own news channels.

In February this year, Shankar completed two years at MCCS. Prior to this assignment, he was news director of Aaj Tak, the country’s most successful Hindi news channel in terms of market share.