After rather an indifferent stint, which lasted for nearly nine years, Rupert Murdoch's Star India decided to revamp the operations of Star Plus in July 2000. It was re-positioned as a Hindi-oriented entertainment channel with a 24-hour feed, flooded with soap operas and new game shows.
Since then, Star has never looked back. It overtook Zee TV, the flagship channel of India's largest private broadcaster, Zee Network, and Sony Entertainment Television, to script a remarkable turnaround in the Indian television industry.
In the two years since Star Plus launched the phenomenally popular Kaun Banega Crorepati - the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
as well as a children's version - the channel has dominated with an average of 40 out of the top 50 shows every week, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The channel has set new ratings records across all genres, such as daily shows, games shows, thrillers, talent shows and music shows, among others.
Star Plus also added a new di-mension to the concept of prime time viewing; the two-hour prime time slot (from 8 to 10 pm) was stretched to three hours.
Repeat telecast of soap operas in the afternoon slot, too, was highly rated.
"Today, we have become our own competition, with our shows competing with each other for ratings. To stay at the top we will outdo ourselves.
We will continue to climb to new heights, bringing in more innovative, original programmes to our viewers, said Sameer Nair, chief operating officer of Star India.
The strategy to introduce daily shows based on joint family and mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships also proved to be a mega success.
Even as some of Star's top hits, such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
and The Weakest Link had to be withdrawn, shows such as Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Mother-in-law was Once a Daughter-in-law) and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki (Household Tales) are still going strong and continue to lead the rating charts.
Offset by Star Plus' resurgence, Sony and Zee have tried to attract audience and advertisers with new programming and marketing initiatives. But Star continues to dominate.
Last August, Zee launched more than 25 shows with an annual budget of US$6.25 million, but failed to make headway to close the gap with Star.
Sony, which performs a shade better than Zee, experienced a similar fate.
Recently, in a no-holds-barred war of television ratings and advertisement, Zee targeted advertisers and media planners with assertive messages, claiming high viewership for its weekly online lottery show and a celebrity programme during prime time.
For its online game - India's first such show - Zee launched a print campaign with the tag line, 'Your brand is now worth millions more on the Zee Network'.
Apart from this, India's largest private network is also sending emails to the media fraternity with another aggressive message: "Almost five crore (50 million) audience across India. Can your brand afford to ignore it?"
With obvious reference to Star Plus' Millionaire, the ad states: "It's not like some quiz show, where to win you had to participate. And to participate, you had to sit up groggily all night and dial away till your fingers faded."
Interestingly, the data provided by Star India bulldozes its rivals' counter-attacks.
According to Nielsen's television audience measurement for May 2002, Star had 87 out of the 100 most popular programmes, while Zee could not even manage to sneak a single programme in the top 100.
Sony, on its part, will air India's first reality matchmaking show, starting next week.
It has also hinged its hopes on the 2003 World Cup cricket championship to be held in South Africa early next year.
Sony, which has the exclusive telecast rights for the World Cup, has signed one of the sport's famous personalities, Kapil Dev, as its brand ambassador.
Cricket is a passion and is followed by the majority of Indians.
"The difference with the name Sony, which is clearly an entertainment channel, is that we want to create programming to spread our exposure to the maximum, which includes tying up with top production houses for the creation of new programming, said a Sony official.
But despite its top position, Star is not getting complacent.
Star India has added new content providers in its roster to strengthen its position in the afternoon slot and Sunday morning line-up.
