San Francisco/Hong Kong – STAR and GekTV will launch three Mandarin language STAR channels on the GekTV IPTV service in the US on March 15, 2008. The channels are Taiwan entertainment channel STAR Chinese Channel, Taiwan music channel Channel [V] Taiwan, and Hong Kong movie channel STAR Chinese Movies 2.

Partnering Tai Seng Media (Asia), a division of US-based Tai Seng Entertainment Group, GekTV will deliver the three STAR channels to subscribers in the US via its proprietary set-top box while Tai Seng Media provides all head-end solutions and will monitor the delivery of the live channel feeds to North America.

The channels add to GekTV’s Mandarin package which already includes TVB On Demand, Phoenix North America, Phoenix Infonews, Azio TV, Tai Seng Entertainment Channel, Tai Seng Movie Channel, Tai Seng Drama Channel, Fashion TV-Asia, and I-Cable Entertainment News. GekTV’s service is currently available throughout the US and will launch in Canada from April 2008.

STAR Chinese Channel offers talk and game shows, contemporary and costume dramas, as well as lifestyle and variety shows, including the inhouse-produce game show Bingo Pool and chat show Gossip Queen. Channel [V] Taiwan features original youth programs including Lollipop and Blackie’s Teenage Club, outdoor concerts such as [V] Power, as well as music videos and interviews in [V] My Guest and Chinese Top 20. STAR Chinese Movies 2 is a newly launched channel showcasing Chinese motion pictures from the 1970s - 1990s.

David Wisnia, STAR’s senior vice president, distribution and sales, as well as head of STAR’s North American and European offices said, “This deal underscores our continued commitment to bringing our popular Mandarin language channels to audiences in North America, enabling them to keep up to date with Asia’s top content, be it music, variety shows, movies, game shows or dramas.”

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