So how does a channel strategise (excuse me?). You know, decide what stays, what goes and how it will appeal to the audience. Well, ask someone in the business; someone like Samir Nair, who has been with STAR TV since 1994 and now looks after STAR Plus. The strategy appears to be simple. At least to Nair: the strength of STAR Plus lies in its bilingual quality and that will be maintained. ``That's our USP,'' says Nair. There is a large audience out there who think bilingually and they represent STAR's niche audience. ``We are looking at the largest common denominator rather than the lowest common denominator,'' he says eloquently though rather cryptically.

The other part of the strategy is to offer a variety of programmes, something STAR has done previously. So populist film countdown shows will mix freely with current affairs programmes like Rajat Sharma's Aaj ki Baat, and UTV's We the People. Then there will be lifestyle shows, serials, etc. ``The idea,'' insists Nair, ``is to have variety, the aim is to be entertaining television must always be that.'' Towards that end, there's an effort to be more youthful, to lighten something like Indian Business Report which was ``too serious.'' It's called the idiot box, remember?

But how different is the new formula from the earlier one, introduced over 2 years ago by R.Basu? ``Well, we tended to over do things: for example at one stage we had six talk shows at the same time. We don't want to be repetitive,'' explains Nair. Also some things didn't work and must be avoided. Like? Like STAR Miss India -``we've killed that idea for everyone for at least a couple of years.''

But apart from this one difference, it seems much the same channel. The favourite programmes on the channel remain Tu Tu Main Main, Saans joined by Kora Kagaz and the likes of Aaj ki Baat. So if the earlier formula didn't work, who's to say this one will? ``A lot of it has to do with scheduling. We are trying to improve the flow of programmes so that programme transitions are smoother.'' The example Nair furnishes to explain this concept of ``the flow'' is Sunday afternoon: there's the programme on film trailers, followed by a Hindi film, then repeat Hindi sitcoms -- all leading up to the piece de resistance for the evening, Bakemans Oh La La. Got it?

In the future this strategy will be further honed. The idea is to devote the early afternoon to repeat serial, then between 4pm-6pm move into children's programmes which STAR hopes an affiliate, Fox Kids, will provide and then there's the Hindi belt between 6pm-9pm, after which except for Aaj Ki Baat we move into the English programmes.

What about the blockbuster Hindi films? Last year STAR Plus had begun the trend to purchase recent big winners like Satya, Ghulam. ``No we are not looking to those at the moment,'' says Nair, ``A year ago, the price was right: to pay Rs 90 lakhs for Ghulam was worth it. Now, every producer talks of nothing less than Rs 5-8 crores per movie. But the market will settle down,'' he adds hopefully.

Basically, ``we're trying to get away from an elitist theory of television,'' reveals Nair, ``We are looking to give you better bilingual quality programmes, greater diversity, with a younger feel to it.''

All of which sounds logical, pleasing and attractive. However, if you have watched some of the news shows, you find that the claims fall short of expectations. Hence a show such as Hera Pheri which was billed as a sure thing with the best comic talent in the country (Shekhar Suman, Rakhi Vijan, Bhavna Balsaver, Asrani), is a Flop Show.

If that is the proof of the pudding, perhaps STAR would like to show mythologicals instead -- that lowest of all common denominators? ``No,'' shudders Nair delicately, ``we don't want to go backwards, but forwards.'' Left, right, left, right.