Large Japanese electronic corporations are interested in investing in Brazil to produce plasma and LCD (liquid crystal display) TV screens, according to Japanese officials.
This information was provided by Akira Okubo, head of the Technology and Broadcasting Department of the Japanese Ministry of Internal Communications, on his way out from a meeting in the office of the presidential civilian advisory staff on Friday, March 3, to discuss Brazil’s choice of which digital TV system to adopt.
This is the second time that the Brazilian government has received Japanese executives for talks on this matter. A work group created to take proposals for the three standards of digital TV transmission gathered last month with representatives of the Japanese, European, and US systems.
The government wants to select a standard as quickly as possible, as the Minister of Communications, Hélio Costa, has already declared. The idea is for there to be experimental transmission of the initial digitalized images as early as the 2006 World Soccer Cup, in June.
According to Okubo, who called the meeting "productive," the Brazilian government did not condition the installation of Japanese high-tech electronic components industries on which digital TV system is adopted.
Still, he added, the government indicated that the choice of the standard is one of the topics in its negotiations with Japan. In Okubo’s view, it was clear from the meeting that the Brazilian government also wants to assess the interest of companies from other nations.
The meeting was attended by minister Costa, the presidential chief-of-staff, Dilma Rousseff, Japanese government officials, and representatives of Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, and NEC.
Among other features not currently available on analog TV, digital TV will permit high-definition image and sound, interactivity, and Internet access. The transition from analog to digital TV is expected to take 15 years, according to earlier estimates made by the Minister of Communications.
Agência Brasil