Rupert Murdoch's Hindi news channel has not only attracted viewers but also envy by rivals and government scrutiny
Star India, the profitable satellite television operation in Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, is in trouble. The reason is an unlikely one - its blazing success has attracted too much attention from its rivals.
As a result, the future of its fledgling Hindi news channel, Star News, launched on April 1, is hanging in the balance, with the government investigating the ownership structure and giving only temporary, week-by-week permission for uplinking the satellite channel.
The launch of Star News signalled what has been described as 'the next big phase in India's broadcasting history' - the rapid growth of privately owned satellite news channels in a market otherwise dominated by channels dishing out trashy soaps and serials.
Since early this year, four news channels have been launched in English and Hindi, India's national language. More are being planned to cater to regional audiences. The boom comes after the doubling of viewers for news channels last year, with revenues expected to grow to five billion rupees (HK$829.3 million) by next year.
'The interest in news has been generated by a variety of major international and Indian events, from the 9-11 attacks in the United States to the religious riots in India's Gujarat state,' said P.N. Vasanti, an analyst at New Delhi's Centre for Media Study, which has been tracking five Hindi news channels for the past three months.