Toshiba shuts down Japanese mobile TV effort

Toshiba Corp. said it will shut down its four-year-old, satellite-based digital multimedia broadcasting service, which it offers via its Mobile Broadcasting Corp. business unit.
The company said the service has failed to attract sufficient customers to its paid service in the face of demand for free mobile broadcasting services that are targeting mobile handsets. Toshiba said it will dissolve the company and end services by March of next year.
The discontinuation is expected to cost Toshiba about $232 million, which will be reflected on its financial statement for March 2009.
The company launched the service in Oct. 2004.