Guo Zilong, president and chairman of Zoke, said their distribution network combined with Fox's entertainment content will create a powerful partnership in China's home video market.

"The partnership enables us to feed growing consumer demand for overseas products, while simultaneously supporting efforts to reduce piracy and enhance consumer satisfaction," Guo said.

He said the deal will also mean Fox will provide his firm with marketing, sales and anti-piracy support.

"In many cases when we file a lawsuit against a piracy manufacturer, we find it hard to gather enough legal documents from the content provider or movie studio, which holds the movie's intellectual property right," Guo said. "But Fox agrees to provide all resources whenever we need to protect copyright."

Zoke is the first among Chinese audio and video production companies to have an entire staff focusing on anti-piracy and copyright protection activities. This attracted Fox, who has found it difficult to make money in China due to pirated films.

"When a blockbuster comes to the market, half of our staff are devoted to the campaign, including Zoke's local partners," Guo said.

Fully aware that the Chinese home entertainment market has shrunk by almost half in the past two years due to the impact of illegal Internet downloads and rampant piracy, Fox's Dunn is confident the business can grow in the future.

"We didn't have presence in the market before, but now with the direct investment as well as the joint efforts with Zoke, the situation will change," Dunn said.

At the ceremony, Fox announced it would establish its first China representative office in Guangzhou.

Keith Feldman, general manager of Fox's international division, said the US studio will also actively explore local co-production opportunities in China.

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