STAR ONE, STAR India GOLD, STAR India NEWS and VIJAY make STAR the most widely distributed South Asian broadcaster on any one cable platform

LIVERMORE, Calif. and HONG KONG, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- STAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) and Asia's leading media and Entertainment Company, today announced the launch of four additional South Asian channels on Comcast's (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) California Bay Area cable platform. The four channels, STAR ONE (Hindi entertainment), STAR India NEWS (Hindi News), STAR India GOLD (Bollywood films) and VIJAY (Tamil Entertainment) compliment STAR India PLUS (India's leading Hindi general entertainment channel), which has been available on the platform since December 2008.

The launch represents the first time that a South Asian news channel (STAR India NEWS) has ever been carried by a U.S. cable platform. VIJAY, Star's Tamil entertainment channel will also be the first Tamil language channel to be launched on U.S. cable.

'We are pleased to broaden our offering of top rated South Asian content for Comcast's California subscribers,' said David Wisnia, STAR's Senior Vice President of Distribution, Sales and Marketing and head of STAR's North American and European offices. 'The launch of these four channels reflects a number of firsts in the industry and represents the fact that STAR now has the most South Asian channels of any one broadcaster on a cable platform. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with operators across North America and stand firm in our commitment to connect Asian viewers with relevant, compelling and top rated content.'

'STAR India Networks are part of Comcast's on-going commitment to our customers to bring value by connecting them to the people, places and programming that are important in their lives,' said Natalie Rouse, Director of National Ethnic Marketing for Comcast.