MUMBAI: NewsCorp-controlled Star India, which reaches 60 million viewers with its Hindi and English programming, has entered into a joint venture with local broadcaster Jupiter Entertainment to gather more south Indian audiences into their net. 

The Indian company is is owned by entrepreneur Rajiv Chandrashekar and the joint venture is to be branded Star Jupiter.

According to Star India ceo Uday Shankar: "The fastest growth in cable and satellite broadcasting is coming from southern India."

Subject to regulatory approval, Star Jupiter will become majority shareholder of Asianet Communications which currently operates TV channels in the nation's southern states (Kerala, Karnataka, Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) where the most common  languages are Malyalam, Kannada and Telugu.

Whoops Star Asia ceo Paul Aiello: "This is a game-changing partnership for Star. Frankly, we'd not taken advantage of the opportunity provided by the regionalisation of viewership and advertising.

Data sourced from Financial Times; additional content by WARC staff