MUMBAI: In its first ever advertising deal outside the network, Star India has inked a deal with Broadcast Initiatives Limited for its Hindi news channel Live India.

Star will handle the ad sales of Live India, nationally and globally, with immediate effect. Live India plans to venture into international markets including the US, UK and Dubai.

The announcement comes close on the heels of the re-positioning of Live India from a 'views' to a news channel with live content. The channel was previously known as Janmat.

Broadcast Initiatives Limited vice chairman and managing director Markand Adhikari said that the company is soon looking to foray into International markets including US, UK and Dubai. Apart from India, Star's ad sales teams across the globe will be fully functional in this regard.

With a distribution platform already in place, the Star network is looking to adopt an integrated broadcast services approach through its first ad sales deal outside the network. 

Star India Pvt. Ltd president - advertising sales and distribution Paritosh Joshi said, "This is the first time Star India has offered its advertising sales capabilities to a channel outside the Star Network. This is a major milestone for this division. It is our intent to quickly evolve into the region's top integrated broadcast services organization and this deal underscores the seriousness of this intent."

Adhikari added, "This is a critical partnership for us and we consider it a significant asset to securing a strong advertising revenue base for our Live India."

For the Marathi channel Mi Marathi, Adhikari has assigned NDTV Media to handle the ad sales functions.