Advanced Television

Murdoch’s Star India targets 25-40m subs

June 4, 2015

By Chris Forrester

Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star India is eyeing an EBITDA of over $500 million by 2018 and hopes to double that by 2020. “We believe that by 2018 we should be able to deliver EBITDA in excess of $0.5 billion and, by the turn of the decade, deliver an EBITDA of $1 billion for Star,” said Star India CEO Uday Shankar, in an interview for Television Post.

Shankar said that Star TV was already growing at a “phenomenal pace” and the broadcaster was going to boost investment in sport and entertainment, and add channels to expand its sport portfolio. Star TV is also pleased with the take-up of its Hotstar VoD service with some 40,000 programmes on offer, and he was targeting every Indian broadband home to have access to the service.  Also coming on stream is Star TV’s version of the NDS-developed AdSmart targeted advertising service, which is marketed locally as Ad Sharp.

However, Shankar’s other intention is to grow the broadcaster’s HD – and more valuable – subscriber base beyond today’s 3 million homes, to reach 25-40 million over the next 3-5 years.

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