OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it will launch a company Monday to produce digital movies and another one to distribute them, possibly by the end of this year.
Progressive Pictures Co. will be based in Tokyo and capitalized at 200 million yen, Matsushita officials said.
The studio will be initially run by four Matsushita employees, but artists from Hollywood will later be invited to join, the officials said.
Matsushita plans to distribute the movies via optical fiber and satellites. It is also considering showing them in theaters through a tieup with Omega Project Co., a video production company whose largest shareholder is trading house Marubeni Corp.
Digital movies are free from quality degradation and transportation costs, and other companies, such as Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., have also entered the business.