Toyota Motor Corp. plans to enter the digital broadcasting business via next-generation communications satellites by initially investing in three CS broadcasting firms, company officials said Thursday.

The move is aimed at providing the automaker with the knowhow it needs to expand its CS broadcasting business to cover car navigation and car-related communication tools in the future, the officials said.

Toyota will invest 90 million yen in CS Nippon, a CS digital broadcasting company capitalized at 3 billion yen, the officials said. CS Nippon was launched this week by Nippon Television Network Corp. and its group companies.

Toyota also plans to claim a 200 million yen stake in CS One Ten, a company scheduled to be established in April by Hitachi Ltd., Asahi National Broadcasting Co. and other companies, they said. CS One Ten will be capitalized at around 2 billion yen, they added.

Toyota is also looking to invest around 3 billion yen in ePF Network Corp., a company set up in November by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and four other electronics makers. ePF was designed to promote interactive CS broadcasting services combining the Internet and electronic commerce.

ePF is currently capitalized at 200 million yen, but its capital is expected to increased to as much as 60 billion yen in the future.