DirecTV Japan Says Not Considering SkyPerfecTV Merger (Correct)
Tokyo, Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- DirecTV Japan is not considering a merger with SkyPerfecTV, its rival digital satellite television broadcaster, according to the head of DirecTV Japan.
''We definitely believe the market can support two communication satellite services,'' said Larry Hunter, chairman of DirecTV Japan Management Inc.
Hunter said the broadcasters may eventually be forced to merge unless the market for satellite TV in Japan grows more quickly.
''It depends how many subscribers there are,'' he said.
DirecTV Japan has about 200,000 subscribers and SkyPerfecTV about 900,000 subscribers. Analysts said the broadcasters need about 2 million subscribers to be profitable.
''There is no well developed multi-channel pay TV service (in Japan) and we have to educate consumers why they should buy pay TV,'' Hunter said. ''Once we overcome that hurdle, the market will explode.''
DirecTV Japan, the one-year-old unit of Hughes Electronics Corp.'s satellite broadcaster DirecTV, is backed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Mitsubishi Corp.
SkyPerfecTV was the result of a May merger between broadcasters Japan Sky Broadcasting Co. (JSkyB) and PerfecTV. SkyPerfecTV is backed by trading companies Itochu Corp., Mitsui & Co., Nissho Iwai Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. as well as by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., Sony Corp. and software company Softbank Corp.
Bloomberg L.P., the parent of Bloomberg News, provides programming to PerfecTV and DirecTV in Japan.
00:33:56 12/24/1998
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