Japan's top cable TV firm poised to 'buy main rival'

Japan's biggest cable television operator JCOM is eyeing an acquisition of its main domestic rival, Japan Cablenet, which would see it control half of the country's market, a report said Saturday. JCOM, also known as Jupiter Telecommunications, had a roughly 39-percent share of the domestic market for cable pay television services in the year to March 2012, while Japan Cablenet held about 11 percent. The combined firm would be 50-50 owned by trading house Sumitomo and telecom firm KDDI in a bid to challenge Japan's top telecom operator NTT, the business daily Nikkei said. NTT, which dominates the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, has been luring subscribers recently by providing services through its fiber-optic networks. Sumitomo and KDDI respectively have 40 percent and 30.7 percent stakes in JCOM while Japan Cablenet is 95.6 percent owned by KDDI. The companies are due to hold board meetings soon to approve the merger, aiming to complete the buyout in the current fiscal year to March 2013, the daily said.