Not sure how much this would matter outside of Japan: Sony, Matsushita, Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi, the Japanese consumer-electronics giants, are developing a joint standard for Internet-connected TVs...it plans to…

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In Japan, the government plans to ask broadcasters and makers of home appliances to ease a copy protection rule for digital TV broadcasts to allow viewers to copy recorded programs…

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[by Sahad P V] Dentsu and Mitsubishi Corporation have announced a new business alliance for the production, sale and rights management of Japanese animated works in Japan and globally, in…

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Not sure how this will look like, since couldn’t find the original release: Major Japanese electronics manufacturers including Matsushita, Sony, Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi will set up a joint venture…

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Warner Music Group is expanding its international footprint through investments and joint ventures, focusing on online and mobile potential: it has now bought a minority stake in a Japanese mobile…

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Microsoft is trying a “Plays-For-Sure + WMP11-Urge-iRiver” hybrid strategy in Japan, where iPod is the dominant music player (though not as much as U.S.). Anyway, it is tying up with…

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Japanese online pharmaceutical marketing firm So-net M3, backed by Sony (NYSE: SNE) Communication Network (Sony owns 60 percent), has bought out MDLinx, a Washington, DC-based online health information company, for…

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We mentioned a Nikkei story this weekend about a possible Apple iPod phone tie-up with Softbank. It is being denied now by Softbank...oh well. We’ll wait…

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So says Japanese news agency Nikkei, picked up by Reuters (the original story is here on Nikkei website, but behind subscription wall): Japanese telecom conglom Softbank and Apple working together…

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Yahoo Japan, which is 33.4 percent owned by Yahoo, has majority-bought out Toshiba Corp’s online news search and clipping service unit NewsWatch, for about $11 million. Under the deal, Yahoo…

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Japanese advertising firm Dentsu said its upcoming joint venture with Swiss sports event marketing firm Infront Sports & Media has obtained the rights to sell in Asia the broadcasting and…

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A friend-of-a-friend reasoning, but makes sense: with Softbank buying out Vodafone’s stake in Japan, a content supply link between Vodafone Group and Yahoo could be one results, says this story.…

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Softbank Corp. is buying out Vodafone Japan for $15.4 billion. Softbank, Japan’s second-largest ISP, gains 15 million customers through this deal—and the chance to take a bite at the $73-billion…

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Masayoshi Son has done crazier investments: Softbank has bought a stake in a Korean Wave company (Korean Wave refers to the country’s pop culture becoming popular in rest of Asia,…

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Nintendo will offer Japanese users the chance to transform the WiFi-enabled Nintendo DS into a portable media center of sorts. The company plans to sell a DS Opera web browser…

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Eastbeam Group of Berlin and Tokyo has received $3.6 million in venture funding from Wellington Partners. Eastbeam operates Wazap, a vertical search engine for Japan and Germany, for information on…

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Yahoo Japan’s Q4 net profit grew 36.7 percent, helped by its online auction and Web advertising businesses, and it forecast even higher results in the current quarter. Consolidated net profit…

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I am not very sure of the implications of this, but significant nonetheless: Japanese gaming pioneer Konami has tied up with local ISP and tech company Internet Initiative Japan to…

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This news came out in some bit about a month ago (see links below), but it has been finalized now: Tokyo Broadcasting System. (TBS), Japan’s third-biggest TV broadcaster, will form…

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Last month Rafat wrote about Softbank’s broadband video and Masayoshi Son’s interest in taking TV Bank global. First steps first ... today Softbank and Yahoo Japan announced their joint venture…

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An interview with Masayoshi Son, President and CEO of SoftBank, in business magazine BT in India..he talks about his plans for TV-Bank (I wrote about his global rollout plans for…

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-- Sky TV Download Service Goes Live: About to be launched formally..Sky movies and TV shows for download...nothing groundbreaking, but a start… -- BellSouth to Test IPTV Over Next Summer:…

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Sony Communication Network, an ISP and content subsidiary of Sony Corp. is planing at IPO that will raise up to $257 million, helping it expand its fibre-optic services. Shares of…

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Japan’s largest ad agency and five networks—TBS, Fuji, Nippon, TV Asahi and TV Tokyo—are working on an internet TV joint venture, according to Reuters. They would provide content aimed at…

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Five private TV broadcasters have entered into final negotiations with Japanese mobile conten giant Index Corp on forming a company to distribute sports information to other online sites, the story…

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