The battle raging between Livedoor, one of Japan's wealthy and successful young internet portals and content providers, and Nippon Broadcasting (39% owned by Fuji TV) demonstrates the value of content integration across multiple channels including digital TV and digital broadcasts to mobile.
Livedoor's goal is to acquiring media assets to combine with its Internet services. It has been expanding its alliances and recently became the Skype partner for Japan offering a co-branded service.
A report in Forbes spells out the terms of the fight:
The battle for the broadcaster is also a fight for who controls Fuji TV, Japan's biggest media company and the core of the Fuji Sankei media group, because Nippon Broadcasting owns 22.5 percent of the television network
The struggle is widely seen in Japan as pitting the upstart Internet company, led by youthful and brash entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, 32, against the aging conservative establishment that controls the country's media industry.
The takeover battle, ignited when Livedoor used after-hours trades to buy the radio company's shares to block a bid by Fuji TV. Nippon Broadcasting, a radio broadcaster with a $2 billion market value, reacted by constructing a special warrants issue to Fuji.
Fuji TV said on Feb. 23 it would pay 15.9 billion yen (US$152.7 million) for stock options giving it the right to buy as many as 47.2 million Nippon Broadcasting shares at 5,950 yen each, valuing the transaction at 296.7 billion yen. Horie sought an injunction the following day, claiming the sale was unfair because Nippon Broadcasting has no need to raise funds.
Fuji TV was trying to dilute Tokyo-based Livedoor's 40% in Nippon Broadcasting and increase its own 39% voting rights to a majority share.
The Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Livedoor.
Fuji Television Network is the jewel in the crown of the vast Fujisankei group holdings that cover more than 100 companies and 2,000 employees. Heady stuff for a company like Livedoor that started in 1996 with a capital of 6 million yen (US$57,000) and a name like "Livin' On the Edge Inc". Currently it boasts of an annual sales figure of 300 billion yen and a net worth estimated at 200 billion yen.
Fuji TV operates one of the most advanced and well-accepted high-definition digital TV services in the world. In Japan a total of 158,000 terrestrial digital broadcast receivers were shipped in October 2004, bringing the cumulative total to 1,632,000 units. For the month of October, terrestrial digital TVs accounted for 21.2% of all color TV shipments, a rise of 2.4 points from September.
Livedoor knows all about digital assets on the web and mobile, and the value of their integration, and the potential value of digital TV and other video content in that mix.
- the Asia Times Online carried a full analysis of the "The politics of Japan's media takeover battle" by Richard Hanson.
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