Star, Asia’s leading media and entertainment company, has announced its plans to launch a free-to-air Farsi language general entertainment channel with a sales and marketing office in Dubai.

The channel, which is scheduled for launch in early 2009, aims at providing quality television programming from across the world to the over 100 million strong Farsi speaking community in the region, said a company official.

Disclosing the news, Paul Aiello, Star chief executive officer, said the channel currently broadcasts over 60 television services in ten languages to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries.

"With the addition of a dedicated Farsi language general entertainment channel, we will further expand our existing portfolio of channel offerings, allowing us to enhance the television viewing experience of audiences that speak the language," he noted.

" The company already has a presence in the Middle East, having used the Dubai Media City as the base of its Middle East operations since 1994.  Star currently offers a bouquet of 15 channels in the market," Aiello added.-TradeArabia News Service