Star India And Viacom18 Get New TV Channel Licences

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has granted TV channel licences to Star India owned by Disney and Viacom18 Media. Going by the same, both companies have four TV channel licences each now. Even Goldmine Telefilms received three new licences in the non-news category on July 22. To date, the MIB has granted 915 news and non-news licences to 357 companies. Also, it has revoked the licences of 347 channels.

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Issuance of New Licences

Notably, Viacom18 received the licences under channel names that do not operate for now such as Connected, My Cam, Eco-Lution, and Pick-A-Trick. These licences were granted on June 10, 2021. It is important to note that there is a buzz that Network 18 owned by Mukesh Ambani is entering into the sports broadcasting segment. For those who are unaware, TV18, a subsidiary of Network18 owns a majority stake in Viacom18.

On the other hand, Star India, which ceased all channel expansion plans due to the New Tariff Order 2.0, has received a grant from MIB to launch Odia GEC Star Kirano and Star Kirano HD. Its subsidiary Asianet Star Communications received licences to launch Asianet Movies HD and Vijay Super HD on July 19, 2021.

Notably, in April 2020, Star India called off the launch of channels including Vijay Music, Star Sports 3 HD, Star Gold 2 HD, Star Movies Select and Disney Channel HD. Also, the company planned to rebrand Movies OK as Star Gold 2 from February 1, 2020.