12/19 22:19 Japan broadcasters JSkyB, PerfecTV to merge -paper
TOKYO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Japanese satellite broadcasting companies PerfecTV Corp and Japan Sky Broadcasting, partly owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp <NCP.AX>, are expected to merge in February, a Japanese financial daily reported on Saturday.
The two satellite broadcasting platforms, which currently share hardware and some programming, raised the merger plan during meetings in Tokyo this week, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing sources to the talks.
Company officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.
Rupert Murdoch, who is visiting Japan, and representatives from the Japanese partners in JSkyB -- electronics giant Sony Corp <6758.T>, national network Fuji Television Network Inc <4767.T> and software publisher Softbank Corp <9984.Q> -- proposed the merger to PerfecTV officials at the meeting, the paper said.
If the deal goes through, it would create the largest direct satellite broadcasting platform in Japan, and Sony Corp, which is also a PerfecTV stake holder, would likely be the largest investor in the new venture.
PerfecTV is expected to accept the merger proposal next week and the two companies hope to reach a basic agreement by the end of January, the paper said.
The new company would have capital of 40 billion yen ($310 million) and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is ready to support the merger, the paper said.
If the companies merge, it would deal a severe blow to competitor DirecTV Japan Inc, which began service on December 1.
The main investors in DirecTV Japan are DirecTV International Inc, a division of Hughes Electronics Corp <GMH.N> of the United States, and Japanese video rental chain Culture Convenience Club Inc.
PerfecTV has been in operation for a little over a year and has about 410,000 subscribers, while JSkyB was expected to go into operation next April.
Industry sources said it would be difficult for Japan to support three separate satellite platforms, adding that they had
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