Paul Aiello departs as Star TV Asia restructures

Star TV Asia will restructure its Asian broadcast businesses into three units - Star India, Star Greater China and Fox International Channels (FIC).

FIC will combine the English-language channels previously managed by Star with the Fox and National Geographic brands for distribution in the rest of Asia.

The changes are designed to support continued growth of each unit and will result in a reduction in the size of its regional operations in Hong Kong by deploying resources into local markets. Details of job losses have not been released, but there has been speculation in the market for several weeks that staff would be retrenched.

James Murdoch (pictured), News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive, Europe and Asia, said: “It is with much regret that I accept Paul’s decision to leave the organisation to pursue other interests and I wish him well. Paul has played an important leadership role in building local teams and driving Star’s growth, particularly in India where we have expanded our broadcast footprint nationally and launched new ventures including film production and distribution.”

Star TV launched with only five channels in 1991.

He added: “We are now reshaping a big, regional organisation into three highly focused business units, each of which will be intensely competitive in its target marketplace. While it was once natural to have a larger regional headquarters, the company has now reached a scale in its key local markets where we are ready to empower the teams on the ground and move a number of functions to be closer to viewers.”

News Corporation also announced the establishment of a News Corporation office in Hong Kong. The new office, comprising a small group of executives from the current Star team, will be responsible for supporting News Corporation’s interests in the region and managing joint ventures including ESPN Star Sports. It will carry out business development, legal, government affairs and corporate communications functions, with each function reporting directly to the corresponding functional heads in London.

Star India will oversee a total of 19 channels in eight languages. It will manage News Corporation’s other interests in the market including pay-TV operator Tata Sky.

FIC will operate 37 channels under 17 channel brands, including Fox, National Geographic, Star World and Channel [V}.

Star Greater China will oversee the group’s Chinese-language portfolio.