Star India will launch Star Sports 1 Kannada on December 29. The year-end launch for the fourth regional channel in the Star Sports cluster was confirmed at the launch of the Star Sports 1 Telugu earlier this month.
Three more regional sports channels – Bengali, Malayalam, and Marathi – have already been announced for the Stat Sports bouquet.
Star India during the IPL this year had successfully experimented with the regional broadcast in Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages.
Star India had started the 2018 IPL broadcasted in 6 languages – Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bangla, across 10 network channels. The Grand Finale on May 27 was broadcast on 17 Channels with the live feed in eight different languages. Star Sports 1 English, Star Sports 1 HD English, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Select SD English, Star Sports 1 Select HD English, Star Plus SD, Star Plus HD, Star Pravah SD, Star Pravah HD, Star Gold SD, Star Gold HD, Star Suvarna Plus, Star Maa Movies, Star Jalsha Movies and Asianet Movies created a record for a sports event live broadcast.
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The strategy had given a 22% push to IPL’s regional viewership.
Like Star Sports 1 Telugu, the Kannada sports channel also carries an MRP of ₹19.
Star Sports 1 Kannada’s launch was delayed for regulatory reasons even as the broadcaster had closed Channel V to replace it with the Kannada channel.
Star Sports 1 Malayalam, Star Sports 1 Bengali, and Star Sports 1 Marathi are the next on the Star India radar to extend its reach in the regional market.
The new regional channel will broadcast the Indian Premier League (IPL), BCCI and ICC tournaments, Indian Super League (ISL), Pro Kabaddi, Premier Badminton League (PBL), and Karnataka Premier League (KPL).
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