Australian-American global media mogul Rupert Murdoch owned Star India formed a joint venture (JV) with Chandrasekhar’s media and entertainment company, Jupiter Entertainment Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

While Star will hold a majority stake in the venture, named Star Jupiter Entertainment Television Ltd (Star Jupiter), the venture will also pick up a majority stake in Chandrasekhar’s Asianet Communications Ltd (ACL).

However, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In a press release, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “I am very excited at this joint venture and partnership, which will potentially transform the entertainment television business in India. STAR has impressed me with its commitment to this marker, to its consumers and to its partnership with Jupiter. I am sure that this venture will set new standards in quality television entertainment for our customers and viewers.”

Speaking on the joint venture, Paul Aiello (CEO STAR) said, “This partnership allows us to connect deeply with the rapidly growing south Indian audience by providing compelling television that truly resonates with the viewers there. 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.”

According to the agreement, STAR Jupiter (the new name) will have majority interest in the channels such as Asianet, Asianet Plus, Kannada channel Suvaran, Telugu channel Sitara and will own Tamil channel Vijay. However, the current management team of ACL, including vice-chairman and MD K Madhavan will continue in their roles under the JV.

It must be here recalled that the Indian laws do not allow foreign entities to hold more than 26% stake in news and current affairs ventures. Hence, the news venture has been retained under Jupiter Entertainment, fully owned by Chandrasekhar.

The two companies are also exploring a wide-range of areas for cooperation including film co-production by STAR Fox Studio Indian and Indigo Movies, Jupiter Entertainment’s movie production arm.

In India, Star broadcasts general entertainment channels Star Plus, Star One and Star World; sports channels SPN, Star Sports; movie channels Star Gold and Star Movies; Channel [V] for music; and news and current affairs channels Star News and Star Ananda, among others.

On the other hand, Jupiter Entertainment runs news channels like Asianet News and Suvarna News, fortnightly magazine Bengaluru Pages and the Radio Indigo channel.