Asia's Hot New STAR

"Ladies and gentlemen of Asia, let's rock 'n' roll!" That clarion call is changing the face of television from Kuwait to Taiwan. It comes from STAR-TV, the first pan-Asian satellite TV service, launched last April by Hong Kong billionaire Li Kashing. STAR currently beams four channels of programming to 38 countries across the world's most populous region. One channel is an Asianized MTV; the others are devoted to sports, entertainment and Chinese- language fare.

Last week, in a preview of its most ambitious venture yet, STAR began offering hourly news reports from the BBC. In November those newscasts will become the centerpiece for a 24-hour news channel, run by the BBC World Service. STAR's all-news service, like its other channels, will be available free (in contrast to CNN, its chief rival); the operation is trying to support itself entirely from advertising.

Because STAR can be seen only by people who have their own satellite dishes (or a cable or microwave hookup linked with a dish), it is available primarily to the affluent. About half a million households are now able to receive the service, a number expected to grow to 4 1/2 million by 1993. But several Asian governments have launched campaigns to prevent STAR from introducing foreign programming and ideas to people long insulated by state- run TV. The government of Malaysia has announced a ban on private dishes, to protect its large Muslim population from contagion by "undesirable values." A committee appointed by the government of India argued early this year that satellite TV exposes people to "foreign perceptions and alien values." Still, STAR has already overtaken CNN as India's foreign-programming source of choice.