The 8 yrs affiliation with the STAR brand comes to an end.

With STAR and ABP calling its separation, Star News-Hindi News channel will now be known as ABP News. After eight years of joint operations in news television, the relationship between Rupert Murdoch-controlled STAR Group and Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) TV has run into rough weather. STAR India and ABP, the principle shareholders, have agreed to discontinue the STAR brand affiliation with MCCS. Moving forward, STAR wishes to focus on building its brand on its core business, general entertainment.

ABP TV — a 100 per cent subsidiary of ABP Pvt Ltd — owns 74 per cent and STAR India the rest in Media Content & Communications Services India Pvt Ltd (MCCS), which broadcasts three popular 24-hour news channels — STAR News in Hindi, STAR Ananda in Bangla and STAR Majha in Marathi.

STAR now wants to focus on entertainment content, so ABP intends to promote its own brand in the news space. So also Star Ananda (Bengali news channel) and Star Majha (Marathi news channel) will now be rebranded by the name-ABP Ananda and ABP Majha respectively!
The ABP (Anand Bazar Patrika) and Star (Satellite Television Asian Region) joint venture Media Content and Communications (MCCS) was formed in March 2003. Star News was launched in March 2004, followed by Star Ananda and Star Majha in 2007.

The name change might affect the Corporate Branding too!  The name of the brand matters, and so is even heard about the logo change! Will this change affect the viewership or not?


Reporter and Author-Krishma Solanki