Japan's Yoshimoto,PCCW Japan In Extreme Sports Content JV
HONG KONG -- Pacific Century CyberWorks Japan Co. Ltd. (J.PCC) is to form a joint venture with Japanese entertainment and talent company Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. Ltd. (J.YMK) that will promote and develop entertainment content, including extreme sports, across multiple platforms in Japan and the rest of Asia, PCCW Japan said Monday.
Under the agreement, PCCW Japan will invest in NUX Inc. which is controlled by Yoshimoto and is Japan's dominant player in the extreme sports industry, according to the release.
No financial details were disclosed.
PCCW Japan and Yoshimoto will jointly aggregate distribution rights for extreme sports, manage athletes and operate extreme sports events regionally under the NUX banner. PCCW Japan also plans to develop video games featuring popular extreme sports.
In addition, the two partners will jointly develop multi-platform multi-language content in other genres like music, game shows and dramas, PCCW Japan said.
Hiroshi Osaki, currently chief executive officer of NUX and general manager of Yoshimoto, is expected to retain the top post at NUX, the company said.
"The extreme sports lifestyle is one of the fastest growing entertainment sectors in the world, appealing to a wide and growing demographic that spends a lot of money on outdoor activities," said Todd Bonner, CEO of PCCW Japan.
"We want to expand this genre regionally and take advantage of its unfulfilled appeal to advertisers desiring to reach this key demographic (young males)," Bonner added.
Yoshimoto produces more than 2,500 hours of TV programs a year as well as digital content for subscription mobile phone and Internet sites. In addition, it manages the careers of more than 700 of Japan's most popular entertainment, sports and music personalities.
PCCW Japan is 77%-owned by Hong Kong-based telecom and multimedia services provider Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. (PCW).
-By Anette Jonsson, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; anette.jonsson@dowjones.com
-0- 06/08/01 05-08G
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