DoCoMo: Mulling Various Tieups With Nippon TV

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- NTT DoCoMo said Wednesday it is mulling various tieups with Nippon Television Network aimed at unifying broadcasting and telecom services.

A spokesman at the Japanese mobile phone giant said the two companies have already joined hands in terrestrial digital broadcasting for mobile phone users, commonly known as "one-seg." In February, the two companies launched a limited liability partnership to develop TV programs for mobile users.

But the spokesman said nothing has been decided about its capital alliance with the TV broadcaster.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Wednesday morning edition that NTT DoCoMo plans to take a roughly 2.5% interest in Nippon Television for about Y10 billion.

NTT DoCoMo already bought a 2.6% stake in Fuji Television Network earlier this year to prepare for the new digital broadcasting service.

The move is in line with DoCoMo's efforts to seek new profit sources to counter falling revenues.

-By Hiroyuki Kachi, Dow Jones Newswires, 813-5255-2929, hiroyuki.kachi@dowjones.com

-Edited by Tomoko Hosaka

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 19th July 2006