In a major initiative, the Tatas on Tuesday announced a joint venture with the Star group for providing direct-to-home services in India, a venture that is estimated to involve an investment of over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).

The joint venture between Tata Sons and Star TV, a Rupert Murdoch-controlled company, would be the third entity to enter the DTH arena after Prasar Bharti and Subhash Chandra's Zee TV.

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Although neither the Tatas nor the Star group gave any investment size in which the Indian corporate giant will have 80 per cent equity, sources associated with the industry said the venture would involve investment of over Rs 300 crore.

Tata said the venture is subject to requisite government approvals and did not specify how many channels the platform would carry.

Star CEO Peter Mukerjea could not be contacted for comments.

The Tata group said the initiative is expected to build the country's largest digital television platform and offer a range of channels including exclusive channels with interactive features and services.

The Tata Group said the initiative is expected to build the country's largest digital television platform and offer a range of channels including exclusive channels with interactive features and services.

Designed for around 100 channels, Star claims to be putting in place state-of-the-art technology to run its DTH services targeting metros initially and later other cities.

The dish and set-top box required for Star's DTH may cost around Rs 5,000 and the monthly subscription could be around Rs 300-400.

Zee has said its monthly subscription for DTH would begin at Rs 150.

Zee's ASC Enterprises, the first player to have got the license to run DTH in the country, launched its service on October 2 last year.