The suspense regarding a new channel from Star’s kitty has finally come to an end. Star India has announced the launch of their new English movies channel, viz. Star Movies Action (SMAC). The launch date for the channel with a tagline ‘Be a Hero’ has been set for 2nd. June 2013.
SMAC is the first and only channel in the most popular genre of Action within the English movies category in India. It will cater to a large and popular TG comprising of male audience from 15 – 34 years of age, across SEC A and B, 1mn +. It is positioned to create a new genre for English action movies for male audience across key metros by offering them comprehensive options and promises to resonate with its target audience. During the launch month, the channel would be showcasing exclusively acquired tittles like: Commando, Terminator 3, The Medallion, Little Big Soldier, The Chronicles of Riddick, Total Recall, Accidental Spy, The Fast and the Furious, Rambo (Parts 1, 2 and 3), Cliff Hanger and XXX.
Speaking to Adgully, Kevin Vaz, Business Head, English channels, STAR Jalsha and Jalsha Movies at STAR India, said, “The rationale behind launching this channel is about giving something interesting to our audiences and basically catering to their need. We have always had amazing English channels in our bouquet so to kind of expand it more we offered this one. There is male audience that is waiting purely for some different content and our target is to cater to that audience.”
Won’t the two sister channels Star Movies & Star Movies Action have an air of similarity about them ? Explaining the core differentiating factor between both the channels Vaz said, “No, Star Movies targets all sets of audiences with their large mix of movies but SMAC is targeted to focus only on men and action being one the most appraised genres among men this would be great to offer. Also there will be no repetition of movies on both the channels.”
Vaz also said that the channel would be launched with two programming blocks. The block, aptly named ‘Gods of Action’ at 9 pm will focus on the movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Sylvester Stallone and Vin Diesel, (every week) and the other block ‘Action at 11’ which will again air more action movies. He says, “Actually, classically any movie channel showcases around eight to nine action movies but Star Movies Action is targeted to offer 100 movies a month and as the name suggests, they are all action movies.”
The Star Network has undertaken a 360-degree marketing campaign for the launch of the new channel . On air promotions will be undertaken across the entire STAR bouquet of channels. The promos are already being telecast across all Hindi channels, regional channels across markets as well as the entire English channel bouquet. Marking the launch of the new channel Pentagram the Indian band, has created an anthem, ' Hero Will Rise', exclusively for SMAC. Speaking about the look and feel of the channel, he informed that the channel would be in sync with it’s name and is sure to attract a lot of their TG.
The ITC Group’s Vivel is their channel partner for Star Jalsha. Elaborating further about their partners and associations for SMAC, Vaz said, “We have been talking terms with the advertisers about partnerships etc. and will soon have them on board. We have studios like Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney, Universal Studios and Sony Pictures with us as of now.” The ad-rates have not yet been finalized as yet, he said.
The promotions for the new channel are already on-air on the network channels. They will also be marketing on DTH platforms, cable platforms , cinema halls and the print platform. Social media too is playing an important role in the launch campaign.
Though Fox Action Movies was discontinued recently the new channel cannot be considered a re-branding exercise. With the addition of Star Movies Action, Star English bouquet will now have nine English television channels. The other channels are – Star World, Star Movies, Star Movies HD, Star World HD, Fox Traveller, National Geographic, FX and Fox Crime.