Japanese Electronics Giants Partner to Develop Internet TVs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 9, 2006 - 1:16pm.

Tokyo - A group of Japanese consumer electronics firms that includes Matsushita, Sony, Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi have announced plans to develop a joint standard for Internet-based televisions, the Associated Press reported. The Linux-based televisions will reportedly make it easier to access online video and other digital video without the need of a keyboard. Sony and Matsushita will hold the largest stakes in the TV Portal Service Corp. joint venture, which Japan's Nihon Keizai newspaper reported expects to begin selling the new devices as early as next year. The venture aims to sell between 10 and 20 million Internet televisions by 2011, when Japan is slated to officially switch to digital broadcasting.

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17254 (AP)