Media, Entertainment and Gaming
ò Sony announced that it is closing its Portable-TV (P-TV) service in Japan, a service that is seen as the equivalent of what the company is bringing to UK and Ireland. Earlier, the company announced that it has entered into a deal with Sky Television to bring on-demand video to PlayStation Portable owners in the two countries. The service is also expected to widen to cover Europe in the future. All of P-TV's downloadable media is DRM-protected (Digital Rights Management) and only accessible for a limited amount of time - ranging from 5-30 days. Media sources, however, indicated that Sony has plans to bring improved service, which is similar, in the future for Japanese clients.
Hardware
ò Observers believe Hitachi Ltd. could be first to market a digital video camcorder based on Blu-ray Disc. The company said that it is set put two such cameras on sale at the end of this month in Japan and later this year in North America. The cameras will use a new variety of Blu-ray Disc that is 8 centimeters in diameter. Hitachi Maxell said it will put the 7.5G-byte discs on sale in August. The DZ-BD70 will be based solely on the discs and the DZ-BD7H is a hybrid model with 30G-byte hard disk drive. The company said it to launch both cameras in Japan on August 30th. Even as Hitachi has not really decided on a price in Japan, the device is already being advertised online for $1,362 for the DZ-BD70 and US$1,567 for the DZ-BD7H. They will be available in North America in October and will cost $1,299 and $1,499 respectively.
ò Pioneer Corp. announced that it will launch its first full high-definition plasma TVs in October, a move that may enable it to join its rivals such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. in the market. Pioneer's plasma operations went through a quarterly loss in April-June, with the company affected by intense competition in the flat TV market, where plasma televisions are losing market share to rival liquid crystal display (LCD) models. Pioneer's new 50- and 60-inch full high-definition sets, featuring an ability to recreate deeper black than conventional models, are expected to sell for $6,060 and $8,340 in Japan, compared to Matsushita's 50-inch full high-definition plasma TVs, which sell for $3,811.
Telecommunications
ò Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT), Japan's biggest telecommunications company, reported a 3.4 percent rise in its group net profit for the April-June quarter, which the company ascribed to a diminished tax payment bought about by NTT DoCoMoÆs share buyback. The companyÆs net profit climbed to 149.5 billion yen ($1.2 billion) from 144.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) the same period a year earlier. NTT DoCoMo is the companyÆs subsidiary. The company's group revenue registered a 1.5 percent decline to 2.5 trillion yen ($21.8 billion) from 2.6 trillion yen ($22 billion) even as revenue from broadband Internet access services posted a growth. NTTÆs group operating profit also posted a 17 percent drop to 299.2 billion yen ($2.5 billion) from 359.1 billion yen ($3 billion), the decline brought about by higher marketing and other operational costs in the mobile phone and system integration businesses. The company retained its outlook for the fiscal year through March, with the forecast of a group net profit reaching 460 billion yen ($3.8 billion) on revenues of 10.7 trillion yen ($90.1 billion).
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