Star One, Star India's second Hindi general entertainment channel, will be back on the prime band from Friday in Mumbai.
This follows an agreement between cable operators and the company, which suffered a blackout by cable operators in Mumbai as they shifted the channel to the hyper band.
The face-off between Star and cable operators started earlier this year as consumers shifted to the DTH platform of Tata Sky, the 80:20 venture between Tata and Star.
The blackout against Star One was because of Tata Sky approaching housing societies with the proposal of offering a dish antenna, which could be a single connection for receiving the DTH service.
Among other issues were Star's demand for a 10 per cent upward revision of the subscriber base and charging cable operators for its new channels, Star One and Walt Disney.
Ajay Vidyasagar, executive vice-president, marketing, Star India, said, "Cable operators had an issue with Tata Sky, in which Star is a minority shareholder. After a dozen meetings with them, in which it was explained to them that Star India and Tata Sky are two different companies run separately, we have reached a mutual agreement."
According to industry sources, while Star may have ironed out the Tata Sky issues with cable operators, the issue of charging more for new channels is still pending.
According to analysts, Star has suffered a revenue loss of about Rs 10 (Rs 100 million) to Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million). The blackout has crippled Star One's reach as Mumbai -- one of the key markets for the channel.
Television ratings for the channel dipped 30 per cent and new launches were not able to connect with the viewers in Mumbai.
Using the channel's lead vehicle -- the Great Indian Laughter Challenge Dwitiya, Star One will be building up the show's finale in a big way through a multimedia campaign.
The channel will also introduce catch-up programming to give the Mumbai viewers a chance to get updated on the key programmes on Star One. Catch-up programming provides viewers an opportunity to watch episodes aired earlier.
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