Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific: Difference between revisions

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{{Confusing|date=July 2024}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2024}}

{{Unreliable sources|date=August 2024}}

| areas_served = Asia-Pacific<br>Middle East

| products = [[Pay television]]<br>[[Satellite television|Direct-broadcast satellite]]

| services = Television channels

| parent = [[Cheung Kong Holdings]] (1990–1993)<br>[[Fox Networks Group]] (1993–2019)<br>[[Disney Branded Television]] (2019–2023)

On 1 May 1993, [[Pearson plc|Pearson]] approached Star TV's owners, seeking a partnership, and was expected to invest up to GBP 100 million.<ref name="UKIndy-93MAY02" /> Pearson (which owned minor stake in British broadcasters [[Sky Group|BSkyB]] and [[Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television]] at the time, and had just acquired [[Thames Television]]) was looking to expand its media business outside the UK, especially because the British laws at the time did not allow Pearson to expand more on UK television business.<ref name="NYT-93JUL28">{{cite news |last1=Ipsen |first1=Erik |title=Pearson Sheds Units to Focus More on Media |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/28/business/worldbusiness/IHT-pearson-sheds-units-to-focus-more-on-media.html |access-date=6 January 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=28 July 1993}}</ref><ref name="Variety-93JUL28">{{cite news |last1=Dawtrey |first1=Adam |title=Star-crossed Pearson rethinks |url=https://variety.com/1993/tv/news/star-crossed-pearson-rethinks-109099/ |access-date=6 January 2019 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=28 July 1993}}</ref> Pearson was looking for 66% of the company, but the deal was reported to have required the Hong Kong side to remain active shareholders, causing the deal to fall through. <ref name="NYT-93JUL28" /><ref name="Variety-93JUL28" /> The initial negotiations with [[Rupert Murdoch]] were reported to have floundered after the Australian businessman demanded a controlling stake in the Hong Kong company.<ref name="UKIndy-93MAY02" /> On the same day, Murdoch's [[News Corporation]] purchased 63.6% of Star TV for $525 million US dollars, half in cash, half in News Corporation's ordinary shares, blocking offers from Pearson. The deal came after News Corporation failed to acquire 22% of [[TVB]] because of regulatory issues.<ref name="SCMP-93JUL27">Tam, Luisa "[https://www.scmp.com/article/38310/news-buys-star-tv News buys Star TV]" ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' 27 July 1993 ''SCMP'' was owned by [[News Corporation]] at the time of announcement.</ref><ref name="Variety-93JUL27">{{cite web|last=Palmer |first=Rhonda |url=https://variety.com/1993/tv/news/murdoch-catches-rising-star-108977/ |title=Murdoch catches rising Star |publisher=Variety |date=27 July 1993 |access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="NYT-93AUG23">{{cite web|last=Shenon |first=Philip |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/23/business/the-media-business-star-tv-extends-murdoch-s-reach.html |title=Star TV Extends Murdoch's Reach |work=The New York Times |date=23 August 1993 |access-date=29 June 2013}}</ref> News Corporation acquired the remaining 36.4% for US$299 million in July 1995.<ref name="SCMP-95JUL19">Kennedy, Sean "[https://www.scmp.com/article/124893/mogul-takes-all-star Mogul takes all of Star]" ''[[South China Morning Post]]'' 19 July 1995</ref><ref name="Variety-95JUL24">"[https://variety.com/1995/scene/markets-festivals/murdoch-takes-over-star-99129461/ Murdoch Takes Over Star]" ''Variety'' 24 July 1995</ref> The Li family and Hutchison Whampoa would retain its shares in Hutchvision Hong Kong Limited, which uplinked Star TV's channels.<ref name="SCMP-93JUL27" /><ref name="Variety-93JUL27" /><ref name="SCMP-95JUL19" /><ref name="Variety-95JUL24" /> With the money he made from the 1993 sale, Richard Li went on to establish [[Pacific Century Group]].<ref name="LAT-94APR11">Courtney, Christine "[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-11-fi-44804-story.html Hong Kong Rich Kid Turns Asia on Its Headset : Media: Richard Li declines family job to found satellite-TV venture. Next goal is pan-Asian 'information exchange.']" ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' 11 April 1994</ref> It was later theorized by author Shiau Hong-chi that Murdoch's purchase of Star TV was based on a theory of media globalization, assuming that people across every nation and language would watch the same TV programmes, with the original plan for Star TV being to broadcast popular American shows to Asian audiences. However, the plan was unsuccessful, with Star TV being forced to invest heavily into producing local shows for their Asian audience.<ref name="SHIAU">Shiau, Hong-chi. ''Animating the cute, the mean and the beautiful: the production and consumption of animation: Taiwan's struggles in the age of globalization''. Saarbrucken [Germany]: VDM, Verlag Dr. Muller. 2008. {{ISBN|9783639093971}} {{OCLC|298596290}}</ref> On 1 August 1993, following News Corporation's takeover, Julian Mounter resigned as Chief Executive of the company. [[Sam Chisholm]] (head of BSkyB at the time) became acting Chief Executive of News Corporation before he was formally appointed.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Palmer |first1=Rhonda |title=Mounter dismounts Star TV |url=https://variety.com/1993/biz/news/mounter-dismounts-star-tv-109283/ |access-date=7 January 2019 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=4 August 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hotten |first1=Russell |last2=Poole |first2=Teresa |title=Mounter quits as StarTV chief |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/mounter-quits-as-startv-chief-1459209.html |access-date=7 January 2019 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=5 August 1993}}</ref><ref name="UKIndy-93AUG08">{{cite news |last1=Nisse |first1=Jason |title=BSkyB chief in move to Murdoch's Star TV |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/bskyb-chief-in-move-to-murdochs-star-tv-1459955.html |access-date=7 January 2019 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=8 August 1993}}</ref>

 

 

As of 1993, Star TV's channel line-up consisted of MTV Asia, [[BBC World Service Television]], a sports channel, an English-language entertainment channel, and a Chinese-language entertainment channel. It also planned to launch a movie channel in Chinese and Hindi later the same year.<ref>{{cite news |title=Star has major impact on Asia |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19930827-1.2.67.7.4 |access-date=23 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=27 August 1993}}</ref> The Star TV network reached an estimate of 45 million viewers and was the only large satellite network to reach all of Asia.<ref name="ready"></ref> On 1 September 1993, in a speech Murdoch made in London coinciding with the start of [[Sky Multichannels]] and relayed to associates in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Sydney, Murdoch announced a plan to combine his synergies around the world to create a global network of television channels, as well as a potential partnership with [[TVB]], who at the time had the largest Mandarin-language television library in the world.<ref>{{cite news |title=Murdoch plans to dominate world TV; SCMP sees heavy buying |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/biztimes19930903-1.2.4 |access-date=12 August 2024 |work=The Business Times |date=3 September 1993}}</ref>

By late-1999 to the early-2000s, Star TV used AsiaSat 3S and Palapa C2 to broadcast across Asia and the Middle East in 53 countries, with an audience of up to 300 million viewers. At the time, programming consisted of [[Star Chinese Channel]], [[Phoenix Television|Phoenix Chinese Channel]], [[StarPlus|Star Plus]], [[Star World]], [[Channel V]], [[Fox Sports (Asian TV network)|ESPN]], Star Sports, [[Star Movies]], [[Star Chinese Movies]], [[Phoenix Movies Channel|Phoenix Movies]], [[Pinoy Box Office|Viva Cinema]], [[ABP News|Star News]], [[Zee News]], Zee Cinema, [[Zee TV]], [[Fox News]], [[Sky News]] and the [[National Geographic (Asian TV channel)|National Geographic Channel]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-04-08 |title=Corporate - The Star Vision |url=http://www.startv.com/eng/corporate/history/history.html |access-date=2023-04-07 |archive-date=2000-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000408222659/http://www.startv.com/eng/corporate/history/history.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

 

 

On New Year's Day 2001, at midnight, the company was rebranded from Star TV to '''Star''', reflecting the company's evolution from a television brand to a multi-service, multi-platform brand. In Chinese, the company referred itself as ''Xīngkōng Chuánméi'' ({{Lang-zh|t=星空傳媒|l=Star Media}}) instead of ''Wèixīng Diànshì.'' It also introduced a new set of logos. As of 2024, the 2001 logos are phased out from use by any Star TV channels since 2008, excluding [[Xing Kong]], [[ANTV]] and [[tvOne (Indonesian TV network)|tvOne]]'s news programme ''Kabar''.<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9rubzAAvtMw&pp=ygUea29tcGlsYXNpIG9iYiBrYWJhciB0dm9uZSAyMDIz Kompilasi OBB Kabar News tvOne - New Look 2023]</ref> Static Design (a broadcasting design arm of Static 2358, now-defunct) designed the company and the seven channels' identities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-05-24 |title=Star beams with identity by Static |url=https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/24-may-2001/star-beams-with-identity-by-static/ |access-date=2023-04-08 |website=Design Week}}</ref>

* The original Star TV company became Fox International Channels Asia Pacific, and would focus on East and Southeast Asia. It also took over the representation of FIC channels from NGC Network Asia, LLC (channels already being distributed by Star). The company would continue to distribute its channels in the Middle East, and would take responsibility of the distribution of Star India and Star Greater China's channels in Asia outside their respective home markets.

 

 

In August 2010, it was announced that the News Corporation would sell a controlling stake in its assets held in mainland China to [[China Media Capital]] (CMC).<ref name="Reuters-10AUG09">Young, Doug "[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newscorp-china/news-corp-sells-controlling-stake-in-china-tv-channels-idUSTRE67810L20100809 News Corp sells controlling stake in China TV channels]" [[Reuters]] 9 August 2010</ref><ref name="AP-10AUG09">Chu, Karen "[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/news-corp-sells-chinese-language-26422 News Corp. sells Chinese-language channels to CMC]" [[Associated Press]] 9 August 2010 (via ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'')</ref><ref name="Variety-10AUG09">Coonan, Clifford "[https://variety.com/2010/biz/markets-festivals/china-media-capital-buys-star-china-1118022740/ China Media Capital buys Star China]" ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' 9 August 2010</ref> Xing Kong (both domestic and international versions), Channel V Mainland China, and the Fortune Star film library were included in the sale,<ref name="Reuters-10AUG09" /><ref name="AP-10AUG09" /><ref name="Variety-10AUG09" /> and a joint venture named [[Star China Media]] was created in the process. CMC acquired the remaining stake in Star China Media in January 2014.<ref>"[https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140102005296/en/Star-China%E2%80%99s-Management-Team-China-Media-Capital Star China's Management Team and China Media Capital to Acquire 21st Century Fox's Entire Stake in Star China TV Joint Venture]" [[21st Century Fox]] [[Business Wire]] 2 January 2014</ref><ref>Patnaik, Sampad "[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-fox-divestment/21st-century-fox-sells-star-china-tv-stake-idUSBREA010CC20140102 21st Century Fox sells Star China TV stake]" [[Reuters]] 2 January 2014</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=William|first1=Christopher|title=Rupert Murdoch gives up on China with sale of Star China TV|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10547453/Rupert-Murdoch-gives-up-on-China-with-sale-of-Star-China-TV.html|website=The Telegraph|date=2 January 2014 |publisher=Telegraph UK|access-date=20 July 2014}}</ref>