Matsushita, Google Group Tie Up on Online TV Biz

Las Vegas, Jan. 7 (Jiji Press)–Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday that it will team up with the Google Inc. group to launch services allowing users to watch Internet pictures and videos on the television screen.

The charge-free services will start in the United States in spring this year in line with the launch there of Matsushita’s new Viera series plasma display panel TVs equipped with newly developed image-processing system large-scale integrated circuits, Matsushita officials said.

On the TV screen, users can watch high-quality photo images shown on Google’s Picasa Web album and videos posted on the video-sharing Web site of the major Internet search engine’s YouTube unit, according to the officials.

In Japan, Matsushita, which makes Panasonic brand consumer electronics products, offers fee-based Internet TV services acTVila jointly with Sony Corp. and some other domestic electronics makers.END

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