Star Gold was launched with a lot of song and dance last month in Mumbai. The classic Hindi movie channel has, however, not received the kind of push it needed from the senior management.

Net result: several cable operators have refused it carriage. The network has not managed to strike deals with large MSOs such as RPG Netcom, InCable, and Siticable. The only cable system to have come to some arrangement with it is Hathway Cable & Datacom, and that too because of the 26 per cent equity stake that Star TV has taken in it. Other affiliates of Hathway such as WinCable and Shri Bhawani Cabletel are also showing the channel on their networks.

The Star TV management is believed to be meeting to find an out of the jam the channel has got into. It will have to work some magic to get Star Gold into viewers' homes.