Star World was first launched in India on 15 December 1991 as a flagship feed of Star World Asia. Then known as StarPlus, it was the product of a partnership between Star TV and Zee Telefilms. In order to avoid competition within, the contract between the two conglomerates clearly encased the territories of operation for both networks: StarPlus exclusively aired English programming, with Zee TV being its Hindi-language counterpart. However, on facing severe losses and very little market growth, Star violated the terms of the contract by slowly incorporating more and more Hindi programming into its schedule. Zee took Star to court over violation of the non-competing clause and shortly after that Star's partnership with Zee was dissolved in July 2000. Consequently, Star TV split Star Plus' beam into two, in effect, providing two separate services for different regional audiences within Star TV's footprint. Star India took over the reins of the network in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, which enabled the channel to provide appropriate programming at accessible viewing time for audience across different regions of Asia. Subsequently, StarPlus was transformed into a Hindi-language general entertainment channel, with Star World becoming the network's English-language GEC. Initially, the channel followed a scheduling format similar to American networks, with new episodes of shows being aired on a weekly basis, a few days after their US telecast. This was altered in early-2010 to shows being aired on a daily basis, to consolidate the channel's core viewership and appeal to the population of India. Thereafter, programming was classified into weekdays, weekends and late night slots, with new shows being brought in on a monthly basis throughout the year. The channel's high-definition feed was launched on 15 April 2011.
Programming
Star World primarily airs popular shows from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. Star also holds exclusive broadcast, as well as streaming rights to all of HBO's original programming in India.
Programming blocks
Star World Weekend Binge On 25 April 2015, STAR World launched its weekend special programming block known as the Star World Weekend Binge. The block's main features included the latest episodes critically acclaimed shows, airing throughout the day. Star World Now Trending On 21 September 2016, Star World introduced a new programming block called Star World Now Trending where the latest seasons of the most popular American shows were aired. Highlights included Empire, The Blacklist, How to Get Away with Murder, Quantico, Homeland and Prison Break Star World 10 Tickles Star World introduced a weeknight one-hour comedy block called Star World 10 Tickles on 4 October 2016. Black-ish and New Girl were the first shows to be aired on this block. Later, the block was extended to weekends in November 2016 where the latest seasons of shows like 2 Broke Girls, Speechless, Modern Family and Son of Zorn were aired. Shows That Are Gonna Explode STAGE was launched in June 2019, to air underrated shows with potential on weeknights at 10 pm, within a fortnight of their US broadcast. The initial catalog of shows for this block included Warrior, True Detective, The Passage, Pose, Succession and Fosse/Verdon.
