Nintendo/Kyocera Go Satellite

Tuesday, Nintendo Co. Ltd. and Kyocera Corp. jointly announced that the two companies would soon be entering the satellite broadcasting business in the year 2000. The plan calls for both companies to invest six billion yen into a satellite music provider, Satellite Digital Audio Broadcasting Co. Ltd., known as St. Giga.

Early this year, Nintendo announced that a similar satellite broadcasting plan with Microsoft and Nomura had been cancelled.

In the future, the two firms will provide games, music, and information by satellite. Nintendo's President Hiroshi Yamauchi told reporters at the news conference announcing the venture that the project would not be dominated by video games, but that specific content has not yet been decided. "Both the format and quality of broadcasting should be drastically changed by the launch of digital satellite broadcasting in 2000. We will take this into account when discussing the character of our new broadcasting with Kyocera," he said.