Sony, Matsushita, Others to Start Selling Internet Televisions Next Year, Newspaper Says

TOKYO  -- Sony, Matsushita and three other Japanese electronics makers plan to start selling Internet televisions next year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported Thursday.

The new TVs aim to make accessing video and similar online content easier than with current methods such as computers, the newspaper said without saying how it got its information. The other companies are Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.

Together, the five rival will set common standards for connecting to the Web as early as next spring, the report said.