STAR and DIRECTV Sign Deal Extension

Press Release

News Corporation’s STAR and DIRECTV Sign Multi-Year Carriage Deal Extension

El Segundo, CA / Hong Kong, September XX, 2008 – DIRECTV, the nation’s leading  satellite TV service provider , and STAR, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation and Asia’s leading media and entertainment company, today announced the signing of a multi-year deal for continuing carriage of STAR India PLUS, STAR I ONE, STAR India NEWS and VIJAY in the U.S.

DIRECTV became STAR’s first distribution partner in the U.S. when the four STAR channels made their American debuts in November, 2004.
 
“Since their launch in 2004, STAR’s leading Indian channels have become household names among DIRECTV’s South Asian subscribers,” said David Wisnia, STAR’s Senior Vice President for Distribution and Sales and head of STAR’s North American and European offices.  “We are thrilled to extend our relationship with our partners at DIRECTV and are confident that viewers will continue to be captivated by the top rated comedies, drama series, reality shows and news programs that these top rated channels showcase on a daily basis.”
 

“DIRECTV is the premier destination for the most current South Asian programming available in the U.S.,” said John A. de Armas, vice president, WorldDirect™, DIRECTV, Inc. “By extending our relationship with STAR, India’s leading programmer, we are enabling the U.S. Indian community to continue to view the best entertainment, sports, news and events programming from their home country.”

DIRECTV’s HindiDirect and HindiDirect™ II programming packages are part of the WorldDirect™ programming platform and are tailored toward Hindi speaking audiences within the United States.  WorldDirect™ customers must first subscribe to DIRECTV BASIC ($9.99/mo) or any DIRECTV base programming package ($29.99/mo or above). For more information on how to receive STAR customers should call 1-800-378-4179.

The DIRECTV WorldDirect™ platform has launched 116 channels that deliver a wide variety of new programming in multiple foreign-languages, including Spanish, Russian, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Italian, Polish, Arabic,  Portuguese, and Greek, to underserved ethnic markets throughout the United States.

About DIRECTV
About DIRECTV, Inc.

DIRECTV, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=dtv&d=t>  – News <http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=dtv> ), the nation’s leading satellite television service provider, presents the finest television experience available to more than 17.1 million customers in the United States and is leading the HD revolution with more than 130 HD channels – more quality HD channels than any other television provider. Each day, DIRECTV subscribers enjoy access to over 265 channels of 100% digital picture and sound, exclusive programming, industry-leading customer satisfaction (which has surpassed all national cable companies for eight years running) and superior technologies that include advanced DVR and HD-DVR services and the most state-of-the-art interactive sports packages available anywhere. For the most up-to-date information on DIRECTV, please visit directv.com.

About STAR

STAR is a leading media and entertainment company in Asia. STAR broadcasts over 60 television services in ten languages to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries. STAR channels cover all genres including general entertainment (Star Plus, Xing Kong, Star Chinese Channel, Star One, Star Utsav, Star World, Vijay, antv, Phoenix Chinese), sports (ESPN, Star Sports), movies (Star Chinese Movies, Star Gold, Star Movies), music (Channel [V]), and news and current affairs (Star News, Star Ananda, Star Majha, Phoenix InfoNews Channel). STAR controls over 20,000 hours of Indian and Chinese programming and also owns the world’s largest contemporary Chinese film library, with more than 600 titles, featuring superstars including Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Bruce Lee. In partnership with leading companies in Asia, STAR businesses extend to filmed entertainment, television production, cable systems, direct-to-home services, terrestrial TV broadcasting, wireless and digital services. STAR is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation. www.startv.com

Media Contacts:

DIRECTV Contact:
Naomi K. Rodriguez
Nkrodriguez@directv.com <mailto:Nkrodriguez@directv.com>
310 964 – 4821I

STAR contact:
 
Hong Kong                                            US
Ben Iu                                                       Sagnik Roy
+852 2621 8618                                      310-369-8199
ben.iu@startv.com                                sagnik.roy@us.startv.com