Television broadcasters Star TV and Kerala-based Asianet are signing a joint venture deal to launch regional channels. As of now, Star Vijay in Tamil is the only regional general entertainment channel Star operates. A top-notch source in Asianet confirmed the development, adding that agreement will be finalized soon. The proposed joint venture, which will be announced in a few weeks, will have Star with 51% stake, while the rest will be with Asianet. Asianet's entertainment channels Asianet Plus in Malayalam and Kannada channel Asianet Suvarna will come under the venture. Apart from this, the partners will also launch a Telugu channel. Star TV will invest around $100 million in six regional channels under the Star brand. Three of these channels would be in Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. The venture with Asianet is expected to fuel its plan of expansion in the television broadcasting space in the country. Under the new plan, it is planning to tieup with Twentieth Century Fox, the US-based film production house for producing Hindi movies. Star TV would now look at starting other regional channels, either on its own or through tieups with other production houses, said a Star TV India source. Star had formed a 51:49 joint venture with Balaji last year to set up general entertainment channels in South Indian languages. Under the agreement, Balaji would produce exclusive content for the channels in Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam.