The new company - Broadcast Worldwide India Pvt Ltd - will be headed by Basu. He, however, will quit as the executive head of News Television India but continue as its non-executive chairman, effective January 1, 2000.

Though the NewsCorp press release issued in Hong Kong did not give details of financial holdings of News Corporation and Basu in Broadcast Worldwide, sources said Murdoch's company will have a substantial stake.

News Television of India chief executive Peter Mukherjea will assume Basu's duties and be responsible for all Star TV activities in India.

Basu has been News Corporation's senior-most executive in India since November 1996. "I will always remain closely associated with NewsCorp and Star. This new venture is a logical extension of thatrelationship. It is gives me a chance to take an entrepreneurial approach to the content needs of the new digital platforms," Basu said on the formation of the new company.

Star TV chairman and chief executive Gareth Chang, who is also the executive director of News Corporation said: "We are delighted to be a supporter of Basu's new company. He has shown great leadership at Star and we look forward to developing exciting new products and business with him in the future." NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch said: "We are all very grateful for Basu's efforts in building our business in India and excited about the opportunities in working with him in this new venture."

NewsCorp is one of the world's larget media companies with assets of approximately $36 billion and annual revenues of around $14 billion.