MUMBAI: More than a decade after its launch, Star Plus’ sibling free-to-air (FTA) channel, Star Utsav, is set to go pay from midnight of 16 August, 2015, on all cable and direct-to-home (DTH) platforms. 

“The channel’s FTA contract is about to end on 15 August, 2015 and it does not plan to re-new or extend it further,” sources close to the development told Indiantelevision.com.

The channel will be priced at Rs 5 on Tata Sky, at Rs 6 on Videocon d2h and at Rs 3 on Hathway Cable and Datacom. Through this development, the channel now aims to earn revenues from both ad and subscription based route. 

It can be recalled that the channel witnessed a new logo and packaging in the month of January this year to tap and engage with the rural consumers, while keeping at pace with the urban audience. Moreover, it had changed its programming from six days a week to the entire week designed to mirror the daily routines of its viewers.

According to a media expert, the purpose of launching Star Utsav was to reach out to its desired TG in smaller cities and towns where audiences were not exposed to Star Plus. However with the channel going pay, the expert doubts whether the channel will get the desired visibility. “The logic to me is unclear, why would consumers want to pay for a repeat content? The move makes sense when the channel experiments by bringing in original content for the same audiences,” he said.