(Yicai Global) Jan. 4 -- Chinese entertainment firm Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media Co. has penned a three-year deal with one of China's 'big three' state-owned telecoms carriers to team up in producing content, hardware and membership services for television.

The agreement, signed with China United Network Communications Ltd., better known as China Unicom, will see the pair set up a home entertainment business and cooperate closely in related fields, such as mobile and internet television, hardware, TV shopping and gaming and entertainment.

If the partnership is successful, the firms may join forces to make equity investments in new business ventures.

China Unicom recently culled more than half of its head office staff as the first stage of its mixed-ownership reform, announced in August. The transformation involved a CNY78-billion (USD12-billion) cash injection, which saw strategic investors take a 35.19-percent stake in the company, sinking its parent company's share to 36.7 percent from 63.7.

China's big four tech firms, Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Tencent Holdings Ltd. and JD.Com Inc. all partook in the restructuring.

The firm is the first state-owned enterprise with central government backing to pilot such a reform, its Chairman Wang Xiaochu said in a public statement.