If Star Plus?s rebranding initiative was intended to paint the town red, it succeeded. More important, it has helped the channel pull ahead of rivals; Star Plus has held on to its number one position in the Hindi general entertainment channels (GEC) genre for 20 straight weeks now. Clearly, it was time to catch up with Uday Shankar. The CEO of Star TV India has been under a lot of pressure since Colors was launched in July 2008, with Star Plus having to fight hard to stay ahead. But today, the channel hosts nine of the top ten Hindi GEC shows and has gone on to acquire a revenue share of the space that it probably never had before. What?s equally heartening, the affable and unassuming Shankar tells Shobhana Subramanian, is that Star?s regional rollout is paying off.

We?re at the Sanqui, at the Four Seasons in central Mumbai, and I?m guessing that instead of picking his favourite restaurant, my guest has settled for the one closest to his office. But the Sanqui has ambience, thanks mainly to the large open kitchen, the huge gleaming copper pots and the rows of transparent jars stuffed with spices clearly designed to stir up an appetite. We?re lucky to have found ourselves a corner table since the glass walls allow us to look out onto a patch of green. Also, what Shankar likes about Sanqui is the choice of cuisine that it offers, which means one doesn?t really need to zero in on what one wants to eat before one hits the place.

Since both of us need to get back to work, we decide to stay with Cantonese Chinese rather than the Indian, Thai or Japanese stuff. A whole Japanese meal, I agree with Shankar, can be a bit much. After a fairly lengthy discussion with the waiter, in which both us are trying to discover what could be spicy enough, we give in to a mix of chicken and prawn dimsums for starters. For the main course, it?s going to be stir-fried chicken tossed with bell pepper and macadamia nuts and a plate of vegetables with some fried rice. The dimsums arrive even before we?ve finished comparing notes about how poorly journalists were paid once upon a time?Shankar, as most people know, started out in life as a reporter for the Times of India and then moved on to the pioneering Down To Earth before, as he unabashedly admits, becoming completely mesmerised by TV.

I?m laughing as he recalls how, ?Zee TV paid you enough to be able to buy a samosa in a couple of months? and BITV paid even less. Life was a struggle, both professionally and financially, when he was making current affairs shows for Zee TV and also later when he was producing news bulletins. But the sheer love for TV, he says, kept him going. Then, of course, came the big break with Aaj Tak. It?s obvious Shankar misses the newsroom and he admits as much: ?Whenever something big happens like the elections or the CWG scam, I wish I was doing news.?

The good part about having done news is that he?s used to high stress levels and is now able to manage a P&L fairly easily. Of course, he admits that life is easier now that Star is back on top and commands well over a third of the GEC space. But his way of unwinding has been to walk long distances?all the way from Malabar Hill where he lives into south Bombay, into the fort area and past marine drive, even sometimes in the sun. ?Every year I plan to play something but it hasn?t worked out,? he says though his gym regimen is intact. Shankar says he?s contemplated playing golf because he loves the game but again hasn?t got around to it.

What he has succeeded in doing is to infuse some reality into Star Plus with shows like the Kiran-Bedi hosted Aap ki Kachehri and the more recent Kali, which fictionalise real life stories. ?Five years ago, we could not have even thought of doing a Kiran Bedi show at 10.30 pm on week nights. For me, the good news is that subjects like female sexuality are being dealt with,? says the Star CEO, who believes that even female protagonists in the daily soaps are bolder today. ?A few years back we could not have had a protagonist who was westernised, non-sari-wearing and who had the courage to tell her husband that although they?re married, they don?t really have a relationship,? he explains. But Shankar agrees that given the large and diverse audience being addressed, the change will be a calibrated one with no one really wanting to rock the boat. Indeed, as he tells me between mouthfuls of stir-fried chicken, which is far from spicy but good all the same, the GEC space itself has turned out to be a good story. While TV viewing as a whole hasn?t been growing at any meaningful pace, the Hindi GEC segment has grown at a CAGR of around 15% in the last three years so that gross advertising revenues are now in the region of Rs 2,600-2,800 crore.

And if Shankar is savouring the saut?ed bamboo shoots and asparagus more confidently than he might have a year ago, I?m guessing it?s because Star?s share has grown disproportionately and is probably at an all-time high. ?There was a phase when people thought that Star could be toppled, but that perception has changed considerably,? he says though he?s quick to add that ?this is a business where one breakout success can tip the scales.? The bad news is that much of this growth has been driven by more inventory, created by the entry of new players, rather than an increase in spot rates, which is a concern because costs are up by more than 15-20%. The big culprit is carriage charges, which Shankar?s convinced could destroy the broadcasting business. ?GEC channels apart, almost all channels and mainly the news channels today are losing money only because of carriage,? he says, adding that it hampers the launch of new channels needed to cater to diverse viewing needs. By his reckoning, some channels must be forking out up to Rs 30-40 crore a year on carriage so that it would account for 35-40% of total costs.

The other bit of bad news has been Trai?s ruling on the subscription revenues to the effect that DTH operators should pay broadcasters less, which is a clearly retrograde step. As Shankar points out, it will incentivise people to create and run an economy of shortages rather than address the issue of under-reporting by the cable operators. His belief is that rather than deal with 60,000 cable operators, across the country, some with serious local and regional political clout, Trai has taken the easy way out.

The double espresso that Shankar?s been served doesn?t seem like one and we can?t resist asking whether it?s a ?cutting? version. But as we sip our coffee, I discover that my guest is not just a fan of crime thrillers who devours Laurie Sanders but also a history buff with an interest in macroeconomics. And he?s never read a management book in his life. Since he?s often criss-crossing the country to catch up with Star?s regional teams or flying to London for a meeting with his boss, he can unwind to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen.

After a couple of difficult years, Shankar can afford to relax; Star today is the market leader in Bengal and Kerala and has moved up to the second spot in Maharashtra. It?s biggest and most recent success though has been Karnataka where it has become a strong number two and sometimes, says Shankar, is even number one. Star may not have cracked the tough Tamil Nadu market or Andhra Pradesh in terms of the ranking but the Star CEO says money?s being made. But he?s not taking his eye off the ball; as he says, his reading is under serious pressure because TV takes up two to three hours a day. I can?t believe that but Shankar convinces me it?s true, telling me it can be therapeutic. Clearly, he?s the man for the job.