News Corp's STAR Movies channel is to acquire output from Canal Plus group under a three-year deal whereby it will get exclusive pay-TV rights to new films from StudioCanal France and the UK's Working Title.

French group StudioCanal is majority owned by Canal Plus, which is the pay-TV unit of media giant Vivendi Universal. In 1999, Canal Plus agreed with Universal Pitures to form a 50-50 joint venture with London-based production company Working Title Films.

As part of the new deal, STAR Movies will also be able to pick up films acquired by StudioCanal from U.S. studios, as well as acquiring more than 45 titles from StudioCanal's film library. STAR Movies is to broadcast the titles throughout Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeat Asia, India and the Middle East.