Sony India managing director Masaru Tamagawa in New Delhi on Monday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi, Oct. 8: Sony India is in talks with Indian broadcasters to develop high-definition television (HDTV).

HDTV is a digital broadcasting format characterised by widescreen pictures and finer details than standard analogue television. It is considered to be the best digital television format available.

The company claims to command an 80 per cent share of the global high-definition television market. It plans to strengthen its position in India once the government allows high-definition broadcasting.

“We expect to have high-definition broadcasting in India by 2009. We are aggressively approaching broadcasting companies to create content as we have all the required equipment,” said Sony India managing director Masaru Tamagawa.

“But we are sure about one thing. No other company can change LCD into high-definition,” he added. Tamagawa refused to divulge any details about the broadcasters.

Sony India hopes to clock a 26 per cent higher turnover of Rs 2,900 crore this fiscal compared with Rs 2,300 crore in 2006.

Earlier this year, Tamagawa had said Sony was targeting a consolidated revenue of approximately Rs 8,500 crore from its Indian operations by 2010. The company has also set aside a marketing and advertising budget of $35 million for this year against $20 million a year ago. “Of the $35 million, around $10 million will be spent in the festive season,” said Tamagawa.

Sony India today launched six series of LCD television sets comprising 15 models for the forthcoming festive season. With the new series, the company targets a 25 per cent share of the LCD market. It aims to occupy the top position in the large screen segment by the end of this fiscal.

“We aim to sell around four lakh TV sets this year,” Tamagawa said. Sony expects to sell 30 lakh units of LCD television sets in 2010, he added.

The company has slashed its product prices by 10-15 per cent for the festive season.

Sony India sells a variety of consumer electronic products here, including high-definition and plasma television sets, DVD players, mobile phones and gaming consoles.