Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel operated by Disney Star, a subsidiary of Disney India. The channel telecasts programmes such as serials, reality shows & Tamil films.

History

The channel was first launched by N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar on 24 November 1994, as Golden Eagle Communication (GEC). That same year it applied for the line-up of Singapore Cable Vision becoming the first Tamil channel on offer. United Breweries Group acquired the channel in 1995 and renamed it as Vijay TV. The UTV Group bought the controlling interest from United Breweries Group in 1999 for ₹180 million. In 2001, Star India took over the channel and rebranded it as Star Vijay. Star acquired 51 percent stake in Vijay TV with UTV holding the remaining 49 percent. In 2004, UTV Software Communications offloaded its entire 44 percent stake in Vijay TV to Star India for ₹31 crores. This channel, along with Star One, was launched in Hong Kong in 2007. The High-Definition feed, Star Vijay HD, was launched on 29 May 2016. On 25 August 2016, its sibling channel Star Vijay Super was launched, which airs non-stop films and legacy television shows and later got revamped into a full movie channel with a tagline "Dhool Cinema Dhinam Dhinam". On 4 October 2020, it launched a music channel named Star Vijay Music.

Programming

Sister channels

Star Vijay Music was an Indian Tamil language music pay television channel operated by Disney Star a subsidiary of Disney India, that was launched on 4 October 2020 during the grand launch of Bigg Boss season 4 by Kamal Haasan. The channel was replaced and rebranded as Star Vijay Takkar from 10 October 2022 onwards.

Reception

When Star India took over the channel from UTV Communications, the channel's revenue, shares and advertising rates increased. A revamp in 2017 brought with it a new logo and launched Bigg Boss Tamil Season 1, after which the audience share of the channel—which had been 10%-15%—increased by 10%, being the second most-watched Tamil television channel. In week 48 of 2020, Star Vijay became the most watched Tamil GEC in prime time while being the second most watched Tamil GEC overall after Sun TV. In week 50, it garnered its highest viewership ratings of 7,14,002 AMAs (average minute audience (in hundreds)) being the fifth most watched Indian television channel.