3/31/2006

DoCoMo, KDDI Offer Free Digital TV to Attract Users Bloomberg.com: JapanBloomberg— NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp., Japan’s biggest wireless operators, will make free digital television available on cell phones from tomorrow, offering content that may draw users away from paying for services such as mobile Internet surfing and e-mail. The introduction of phones that receive the “one-seg” broadcasts shows operators may sacrifice revenue to retain market share …

Ok, ok, so it’s TV on a cellphone not a regular TV set but it is still the SAME shows that are being broadcast for free over the air.
I guess that DoCoMo and KDDI are getting worried about that fact that cellphone owners will soon be able switch providers without changing their phone number and are trying anything like free “one seg” (ワンセグ) to stop their customers from switching to the soon-to-be Softbank/Yahoo half-price cellphone service.