Toshiba to cut royalty on mobile broadcasting

Toshiba, which holds the core technology patent for satellite mobile broadcasting, has agreed to make drastic cuts in royalties. The Japanese company had originally said it would impose a 2 percent royalty on all handsets to be used for the broadcasting service which is scheduled to begin in Korea in September. “Toshiba accepted Korean companies’ proposal that royalty percentages be imposed according to a certain bulk number of handsets, instead of on each individual handset,” TU Media Corp., a consortium led by SK Telecom that will control digital mobile broadcasting in Korea, said yesterday. Although Toshiba holds international patents for the satellite digital mobile broadcasting, its patents in Japan are not yet officially registered. The company will not impose the reduced royalties on Korean firms until patent registration in Japan is complete. Digital mobile broadcasting is a service enabling users to view television through cellular phones or mobile television sets via satellite transmission. Last March, a satellite jointly owned by Korean and Japanese firms was launched to provide services to both countries. by Yum Tae-jung