Japan broadcasters, Dentsu say in Web TV talks

[Darthtiki 0]

Japan broadcasters, Dentsu say in Web TV talks

Mon Nov 28, 8:30 AM ET

 

 

 

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising company, and five television networks said on Monday they have started talks on setting up an Internet television joint venture.

 

Dentsu and Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Fuji Television Network Inc., Nippon Television Network Corp., TV Asahi Corp. and TV Tokyo Corp. said they aimed to provide content online, seeking to attract the growing number of high-speed fibre-optic Internet users in Japan.

 

The proposed alliance comes as Japanese broadcasters face pressure to change with the advance of technology and Internet companies try to take a slice of the lucrative business.

 

TBS is currently considering a merger offer from Internet shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc., while Fuji earlier this year fought a takeover battle with Internet firm Livedoor Co..

 

Online advertising is also taking revenue away from TV. Dentsu is focusing on the Web advertising market, forecasting that its Internet-related business would post annual sales growth of about 30 percent over the next few years.

 

Internet communications conglomerate Softbank Corp. was also in talks earlier this year with the television broadcasters and Dentsu on starting Internet TV services, according to Softbank sources.

 

A Softbank spokesman said on Monday the company was not involved in the latest alliance.

 

Shares in Dentsu rose 2.24 percent to 319,000 yen by midday, TBS was up 2.51 percent at 3,270 yen and Fuji TV was down 1.49 percent at 264,000 yen.

 

Nippon TV was up 2.46 percent at 18,720 yen, TV Asahi was flat at 301,000 yen and TV Tokyo was down 3.39 percent at 4,280 yen.

 

The Nikkei average was up 0.63 percent.

 

Thoughts, comments?

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I'll watch it if I can.

[World's Worst Man 0]

The network TV wrestling shows suck, as they're fairly short, and the matches are very often heavily clipped. The best stuff would be on G+, BS-Asahi, Samurai TV and Sports-I ESPN, all of which are cable stations. Then of course there's PPV stuff. That being said, I'd still watch it, as it would provide a good opportunity to see the latest Japanese wrestling as it airs, as opposed to waiting a month or 2 for a DVD of the show. It'd also be a good way to see which shows are good enough to buy in full on DVD. It wouldn't really curb my DVD buying habits per se, as I'd still get the good shows on DVD. I'd just be able to skip the stuff that looks good, but didn't turn out very good.