Index to Form TV Joint Venture

Five private television broadcasters have entered into final negotiations with Index Corp., which distributes content to mobile phone users, on forming a company to distribute sports information to Internet portal sites, according to sources close to the broadcasters. The new company would distribute preliminary reports and images of a wide range of sports including soccer, baseball and basketball to portal sites for access by personal computers and mobile phones, the sources said. 

The broadcasters are: Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Fuji Television Network Inc., Nippon Television Network Corp., TV Asahi Corp. and TV Tokyo Corp. According to the sources, the new company will be capitalized at about 100 million yen, and with the five broadcasters already working on the investment ratios and formation of management, an agreement on the project is expected to be reached Monday.

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., the communications satellite broadcaster for Sky PerfecTV, is also considering investing in the project, the sources said. The new company will begin doing business in June 2006 when the World Cup soccer finals kick off and distribute soccer information to hundreds of Web sites, including Yahoo, the sources said. Full Article Here.