STAR TV is to launch seven new channels in different Asian languages over the next three years as the network continues to diversify to attract regional audiences. Chief executive Gary Davey said the satellite TV company would unveil two Mandarin entertainment and film channels, an Indian subscription channel, and Bahasa Indonesia, Thai, Tagalog and Cantonese channels. The Mandarin channel, aimed at China and Taiwan, will be evenly split between local and overseas programmes. STAR TV will commission shows from production houses in the two countries, splitting costs between the network and cable TV operators carrying the service. STAR TV already has a three-year agreement with television station ATV to co-produce 40 hours of drama and to acquire 1,000 hours of additional programming a year. The channels will be subscription-based, allowing for a regular income unaffected by advertising fluctuations. Advertising presently accounts for 95 per cent of STAR's revenue with subscriptions making up the rest. STAR refuses to reveal figures, but it is estimated the network will lose US$20 million (HK$154 million) this year and subscription revenue is essential if it is to begin to cover costs and move into profitability. The company was finally starting to understand the region's diversity, said Mr Davey. It had discovered ''the application of our business is very different in every market''. News of the extra channels comes as competition for satellite television viewers begins to get much tougher. American network NBC is launching an Asian business news channel this month, MTV is due to relaunch a regional service in the last quarter of the year and Turner Broadcasting System's TNT & Cartoon Network is to start transmission on October 6. Mr Davey said he looked forward to competing with the firms which will beam programmes from the ApStar 1 satellite launched last month. But an international row over the satellite's final orbit position meant no-one knew when it would start operating. STAR's new channels will be relayed from AsiaSat 2 which will give the network a capacity of 32 channels after it is launched in early 1995. The firm believes the new satellite will push the number of people able to watch its programmes to 400 million, double the current figure, within two years. ''When AsiaSat 2 is operational, people will be able to receive signals with a satellite dish one metre in diameter. This opens up a whole universe of consumer demand,'' Mr Davey said. He added that STAR would be unaffected by the breakdown of talks with Wharf's Cable TV to run its channels through the Wharf-owned network. ''The discussion started on a deal of seven channels. It dragged on down to one. There was nothing left, so we had nothing to lose,'' he said. The final channel under discussion was the Mandarin and English STAR Movies that started in Taiwan in May. STAR TV is presently talking to Hong Kong Telecom about running that and other channels through the company's proposed video-on-demand service due to be introduced in late 1995, although Cable TV's exclusivity period runs until November 1996. Mr Davey said he was still lobbying the Government to lift STAR's ban on running Cantonese programmes until that date, although it is allowed to run Cantonese music videos. The bar was introduced amid protests from TVB that its position would be undercut.