In order to launch its proposed home shopping channel in the country, Star India and CJ Home Shopping Co of Seoul have formed a joint venture company, called Star CJ Network India, and are initially looking to pump in around $2 million (about Rs 9 crore) towards uplinking and downlinking of the proposed channel.
The Star CJ Network has sought permission from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for necessary permission 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.
FIPB is likely to take up the matter next month, sources said.
Both Star India and CJ Group had been in talks for the past 6-8 months and the Star CJ Network India was finally incorporated earlier this month. The joint venture company is likely to be headed by a senior Star India executive, sources said.
According to 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, informed sources said.
When contacted, a senior executive from Star India said that they could comment on the matter only after consulting CJ Home Shopping executives.
Currently, the home shopping genre is largely unorganised with only a few players airing ‘paid-programmes’ on existing networks.
Earlier this year, Network 18 launched Home Shop 18 in this genre which works on a standalone basis.
