Nintendo, Kyocera to enter satellite broadcasting
January 27, 1998 6:52am
Reuters
zdii.com
By Yuka Obayashi
KYOTO, Japan, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Video game giant Nintendo Co Ltd and Kyocera Corp, a top maker of semiconductor components, unveiled a plan on Tuesday to enter Japan's lucrative satellite broadcasting business together in 2000.
The timing would coincide with the planned launch of a major Japanese digital broadcasting satellite, the companies said in a statement.
As a first step, Nintendo, known for its popular Nintendo 64 video game player, and Kyocera will acquire major equity stakes Satellite Digital Audio Broadcasting Co Ltd, a domestic company that broadcasts digital music and data programmes.
The firms said they hoped the company, which is better known as St. Giga, would obtain a government licence for satellite broadcasting in the latter half of 1998.
Under the scheme, St. Giga will substantially reduce its capital from a current six billion yen ($47.6 million) and issue new shares worth 20 billion yen ($158 million).
Nintendo and Kyocera will each buy six billion yen ($47.6 million) of the new shares while the rest would be bought by content providers and potential advertisers, they said.
Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi told a news conference in Kyoto, western Japan, that the two firms had not yet decided on the specific content of their planned satellite broadcasts, but said it would not be dominated by video-game programmes.
"Both the format and quality of broadcasting should be drastically changed by the launch of digital satellite broadcasting in 2000. We will take this into account when discussing the character of our new broadcasting with Kyocera," Yamauchi said.
Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman of Kyocera, told the same news conference that his firm did not expect any immediate benefit from entering the satellite broadcasting business.
But another Kyocera executive said the business was expected to have a connection of some sort with the company's telecommunication business, which earns about 40 percent of Kyocera group profits.
Japanese long-distance telephone service provider DDI Corp is part of the Kyocera group.
St. Giga has accumulated losses expected to total 8.9 billion yen ($70.6 million) at the end of March. However, the firm is expected to post a current profit of 280 million yen ($2.22 million) this fiscal year to March 31.
Nintendo, Microsoft Corp of the United States and the research arm of Japanese brokerage Nomura Securities Co Ltd, had previously planned to offer an information network service using St. Giga's business assets.
But the plan was later cancelled and Microsoft has not been involved in talks on the new broadcasting project, Nintendo's president Yamauchi said.
($1=126 yen)
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Source: Reuters |
