HONG KONG -Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., the world's biggest plasma maker, has lately teamed up with Google to launch new plasma television series that allows users to search and watch videos from YouTube as well as to share and view photos from the online Picasa Web Albums.
As YouTube becomes an ever more popular pastime, major television makers are scrambling to add Internet capabilities to their newest TV models.
At the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Matsushita, which produces Panasonic-branded products, unveiled the latest Panasonic VIERA PZ850 line of plasma Internet-connected high-definition television sets, which will be available to consumers this spring in the United States.
Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of Panasonic AVC Networks Co., said, "This is the first time mainstream consumers will be able to easily enjoy YouTube videos from the living room with the enhanced quality of a fully integrated widescreen TV experience."
Google and YouTube will provide Matsushita with special servers for transmitting high-quality images for large-screen TVs. The latest Matsushita Net-enabled TVs will allow users to click into the YouTube and Picasa Web sites by pressing a button on the remote control.
Besides sales and marketing, Matsushita will also be responsible for the development of global copyright management systems for online videos from around the world, before deciding whether to sell the televisions outside the United States as well, according to a report from Nikkei News.
Sony Pictures Television, a TV content provider that is part of Sony Corp., also announced on Monday the debut of the first of several planned YouTube Brand Channels, set to deliver abbreviated versions of popular television programming as well as (eventually) original content. Last July, Apple launched a set-top box that transmits YouTube video clips wirelessly to big-screen TVs.
The partnership with Google is the latest move by Matsushita to boost the sales of its plasma TVs, which have been facing stiff competition from liquid-crystal display models. Osaka-based Matsushita has more than a 30% share of the plasma TV market, but the overall share of plasma in the flat-panel TV market has been shrinking relative to liquid-crystal display. LCD television shipments are estimated nearly to double by 2011 from this year, whereas plasma television sales are projected to decline by 1% in value terms, leaving their volume at just one-eighth the volume of LCD shipments, according to Texas-based research firm DisplaySearch,
Another Japanese rival of Matsushita, Fujitsu, said in late December that it would stop producing plasma televisions at the end of March this year because they are no longer profitable.
To expand its LCD TV sales, Matsushita has allied with Canon and Hitachi to develop the latest in LCD technology. It has agreed to take up to 24.9% of the shares of Hitachi Displays Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi engaged in small and medium-sized LCD panel-related businesses, by March 31, 2008.
Matsushita shares closed down 1.14%, at 2,165 yen ($19.85), on the Tokyo market on Tuesday.
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