Nintendo's Wii To Get Video Channel In 2009

Nintendo's Wii To Get Video Channel In 2009

Nintendo plans to launch a video channel for its Wii console in 2009, it said Thursday. 

The service, which will be launched in collaboration with advertising agency Dentsu, will initially be available in Japan only where it is expected to launch in the "spring" and be available at no charge. A premium IT service for which users will be required to pay for content is likely to launch in the middle of the year, Nintendo said.



The service will focus on family-orientated content as another pillar of Nintendo's drive to encourage interaction between family members around its console. The majority of the 34.6 million Wii consoles sold - around 80 percent according to company figures - are hooked-up to living room TVs. However, only 40 percent are connected to the Internet.

In offering video, Nintendo is mirroring Sony and Microsoft, both of which have already started video services. But unlike its rivals, Nintendo's channel differs in its original-content focus.