Japanese Pioneer and Sharp jointly announced on April 9 that they have signed an agreement whereby they will establish a JV, consolidating their optical disk businesses, according to the JCN Newswire. Aiming to tap growing demand for Blu-ray disk products and boost their competitiveness in the sector, both parties will transfer their respective businesses to the JV, which is scheduled to begin operations around October 1, 2009, according to the same source. It is expected that the agreement for the JV will be finalized and signed by June 25, 2009. The JV will focus on the development, design, manufacture, and sales of optical disk products, including optical disk recorders and players. Further details were not yet disclosed though.