According to a recent report by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, major Japanese electronics firms plan to form a joint venture to manage patents related to terrestrial digital broadcasting. Firms likely to participate in the project include Sony, Matsushita, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, JVC, and NHK. Involved parties are to license their respective patents to the joint venture, through which other companies can acquire the patents at relatively low prices. This joint undertaking is expected to come into being within 2006 and is aimed at promoting the commercial use of technologies related to terrestrial digital broadcasting by facilitating the patent licensing process and reducing royalties.