If the contract falls through, Star News will work out a new formation to provide content. At least 75 to 80 per cent of it will be in Hindi. Recruitment of new staffers will start in a few months. An official announcement of the new alignments/focus is expected sometime in April-May. Efforts are on to hire a handful of senior people to oversee news and current affairs. The new-look Star News will be handled from Mumbai, with Delhi a major hub. The channel will also have current affairs shows in English produced by a host of independent producers like NDTV, Vir Sanghvi, Karan Thapar and Rajat Sharma.
Another option to penetrate the fast growing Hindi viewership segment is a possible tie-up with Aaj Tak, the Living Media-promoted channel. TV Today officials confirm that Star News is negotiating for buying a significant stake (15-18 per cent) in the channel. If that happens, the channel could be rechristened STAR-Aaj Tak.
In case Star News has to handle newsgathering operations on its own, it will also explore ways to raise funds, both in India and abroad. Interestingly, executives of DSP Merrill Lynch—during a detailed presentation to the Murdochs in Mumbai—made a strong pitch for a STAR India share issue, both for news as well as DTH operations.