Star Channel

For the U.S. premium channel previously known as "Star Channel", see The Movie Channel.

Star Channel
Launched	December 4, 1993
Owned by	Nea Tileorasi A.E.
Picture format	16:9 (576i, SDTV)
Audience share	10.3% (4/10/2010 - 10/10/2010, AGB)
Country	Greece
Website	www.star.gr/tv
Availability
Terrestrial
DIGEA
Satellite
NOVA Greece	Channel 107

Star Channel is a Greek television network that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It launched in December 1993 and is owned by Nea Tileorasi A.E.. The main news bulletin is called Star Eidiseis, which is currently hosted by Aimilios Liatsos. The Star Channel logo is a row of six rhomboid-shapes (orange, red, purple, blue, green and yellow) which form part of a stylized star. The word STAR is sometimes placed at the bottom of the logo.

Star Channel is mostly known in Greece for its unique light programming style, both in terms of live shows and news content, with increased focus on lifestyle, showbiz and fashion news and on comedic and innovative presentation, diverging from the traditional format followed by other channels.^{[citation needed]} This has resulted in the channel's large popularity, especially among youth demographics where it consistently has the highest ratings, and contributed to it being the only profitable Greek television network for almost a decade.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, Star Channel were escorted away from the Eurovision Song Contest by police after accusations of illegally transmitting footage from the dress rehearsal. ^[1]

History

December 1993 Star Channel was launched to compete with Mega Channel, ANT1, Alpha TV, and ERT Channels. It began broadcasting children's programs along with foreign series.

1994 Star Channel began to exchange family/children's programs from Alpha, then known as Skai (Greek spelling of Sky) with Star's children's programming.

2005 Star Channel makes its debut Internationally, joining the UBI World TV platform, making Star Channel available to viewers in Australia as well as Asia - Africa region

2008 UBI World TV launches in New Zealand making Star International available.

2010 Forcibly removed from the Eurovision Song Contest and banned by the European Broadcasting Union for three years for illegally airing live feed from Norwegian broadcaster NRK of the Eurovision dress rehearsals.^[2]

2011 In march Star Channel started showing some of its programs in 16:9 (Mostly TV Series and Films) and since April it switched to 16:9 for all its programs, including all of its own shows and its news broadcast.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Star Channel

Star Channel airs 24/7 news, shows, movies and foreign series. Τhe network also airs a six-hour Weekend morning animation block named Star Land.

Current Shows

• Mad in Star - Showbiz news and gossip, hosted by Nikoleta Ralli. airs weekdays at 1:45pm
• Mila (Talk) - Discussions about various issues based on woman's life (men, relatioships, sex, kids etc.) with showbiz guests. Hosted by Tatiana Stefanidou airs weekdays at 3:45pm
• Fotis kai Maria live - Entertainment magazine featuring segments on cooking, health, fashion, lifestyle issues and more. Hosted by Fotis Sergoulopoulos and Maria Bakodimou., airs weekdays at 5:50pm.
• Nistikoi Praktores - Cooking show, with helpful tips on eating well and nutrition. Hosted by Dina Nikolaou & Iosif Marinakis. airs weekdays at 10:15am. (Now it's in third year)
• Proini Meleti - Morning show hosted by Eleonora Meleti; airs weekdays at 7:30am
• Star Eidiseis - Newscast featuring top headlines from Greece and abroad, entertainment & sports news; Airs at 12:30pm, 4:30pm (update) & 7:45pm (Main newscast with Amilios Liatsos).

Star International

Star International

Star International was launched in November 2005 and airs the "best of" Star Channel programming to Greeks in the Asia Pacific region, South Africa, Australia/New Zealand & North America.

Star International is currently available to viewers in Australia/New Zealand, Africa and Asia thru UBI World TV and it operates on a 24 hour schedule.

In October 2009, Star International officially launched in North America, available exclusively on RCN Cable in the United States.^[3] In June 2010, RCN Cable dropped the channel due to low subscriptions.

In May 2011, Star International re-launched in the US, available via satellite on the Home2US platform.

References

1. ^ http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/eurovision/article3670652.ece
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ http://investor.rcn.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=415832

External links

• Official Site (Greek)
• Star International (Greek)