Building up the first serious challenge to Sun TV's dominance in the southern cable television market, News Corp's Star India Pvt. Ltd and Bangalore-based entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced a joint venture (JV) on Friday, for enhancing viewing experience of audience in South India.

Though the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Star will hold a majority stake in the JV - named 'Star Jupiter Entertainment Television Ltd' - which will also pick up a majority stake in Chandrasekhar's Asianet Communications Ltd which currently broadcasts general entertainment channels (GECs) in Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. Star's existing channel in Tamil Nadu - Vijay TV - will now be part of the new JV.

However, Asianet's news channels and radio business, which operates 24-hour news channels in Malayalam and Kannada, will remain outside the JV with STAR - and under complete ownership of Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Entertainment.

For Star, the new deal replaces its partnership with content producer 'Balaji Telefilms Ltd', under which the duo had announced the launch of several regional channels primarily focusing on the south India market.

In a joint company statement, Star CEO Paul Aiello said: "This is a game-changing partnership for Star. 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."