Television broadcaster Star India Pvt. Ltd and South Korea’s CJ Home Shopping Ltd have formed a joint venture company, christened Star CJ Network India to launch 24/7 home shopping television channel in the country.

Under the arrangement, Star India will run the proposed channel while CJ Home Shopping will provide the backend support such as providing a host of products, tie-ups with local brands among others.

Both partners are expected to invest in around $2 million (about Rs 9 crore) towards uplinking and downlinking of the proposed channel.

The Star CJ Network is presently looking for an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to infuse in excess of $2 million towards running a non-news, non-current affairs channel that is likely to be launched in early 2009.

Both Star India and CJ Group had been in talks for the past 6 to 8 months, but Star CJ Network India has finally been incorporated, after a long period of attempts, made by the management of the company.

According to sources, the joint venture company is likely to be headed by a senior Star India executive.

Earlier this year, Network 18, a promoter group company of Television Eighteen India has launched ‘Home Shop 18’ a 24-hour shopping channel in this genre on standalone basis.