News Corporation on Tuesday unveiled details of a wide-ranging shake-up of its Hong Kong-based Star Asian television group as James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia, looks to cut costs and reorganise regional businesses with an increasing focus on India.

About 150 to 200 jobs at Star are expected to go in the Hong Kong office over the next 12 months and the company said it did not rule out further job losses later. Paul Aiello, chief executive of Star, will leave the company in December.

The restructuring, which, according to News Corp executives, is expected to allocate more resources to regional divisions, effectively represents a bet on India becoming the engine of growth for the media group's Asian operations. This comes as television advertising revenue suffers in Europe and the US.