(Updated on 14 November 2008 8:00 pm)
(14 November 2008 5:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Star is floating a joint venture company with Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Entertainment Ventures to take majority stake in Asianet Communications Ltd (ACL), which broadcasts channels in Malayalam (Asianet, Asianet Plus), Kannada (Suvarna), and Telugu (Sitara).

Star Jupiter Entertainment Television Limited (Star Jupiter), the JV company, will also make additional investments towards developing and launching new channels in South India.

Vijay, the Tamil language general entertainment channel currently operated and owned by Star, will come under Star Jupiter.

The news business will be outside the deal. "We will be holding at least 51 per cent and the deal is restricted to the TV entertainment business. The news business doesn't make sense for us as regulation allows only 26 per cent foreign direct investment," says Star India CEO Uday Shankar.

Asianet Communications has in its portfolio news channels (Asianet News in Malayalam, Suvarna News in Kannada and is set to launch in December news in Tamil and Telugu), entertainment (movies and television, FM radio, and digital media). Chandrasekhar acquired ACL in late 2006 through Jupiter Entertainment Ventures.

Says Shankar, “South India represents the next big growth story for Indian television. With this strategic partnership, we should be able to capture this growth opportunity and create a much bigger platform for creative talent that would offer the South Indian a lot more exciting content. The partnership also offers an exciting opportunity to those advertisers who are looking at nationwide reach vehicles and reinforce this with strong regional channels."

The current management team of ACL, including vice-chairman and MD K Madhavan will continue in their roles under the JV.

Star and Jupiter are also exploring a wide range of new areas of cooperation including film co-production by Fox Star Studios India and Indigo Movies, Jupiter Entertainment’s movie production arm.

Besides being a market leader in the Malayalam market, Asianet has a strong presence beyond India in the Middle-East, UK, US and South-East Asia.

After News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said during his visit to India that the company would be investing $100 million for six regional channels, Star launched a Bengali general entertainment (Star Jalsha) and is planning to roll out a Marathi (Star Pravah on 24 November) and a Gujarati GEC.

Star CEO Paul Aiello feels the Asianet deal is a game changing partnership for Star. "It allows us to connect deeply with the rapidly growing South Indian audience by providing compelling television that truly resonates with the viewers there. And by adding the South Indian channels to our extensive portfolio of Hindi and regional language channels, Star takes a big step towards becoming a truly national broadcaster in India.”

Earlier, Star had planned a JV with Balaji Telefilms for rolling out regional channels in the south. But the two companies snapped ties in August this year. The JV agreement, entered into in April 2007 relating to the regional languages joint venture, was terminated.