Disney to offer high-speed Net for kids in Japan

NTT and Walt Disney will offer a high-speed Net service aimed at younger children called "DisneyBB" to draw Japanese families online.

Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp and Walt Disney Co have agreed to offer a Disney-branded high-speed Internet service to draw Japanese families online, Disney said on Tuesday.

Called 'DisneyBB,' the broadband service will launch on July 22 and will offer games, music, and video clips aimed especially at younger children, Disney said.

The companies did not release financial details of the deal.

Disney will also offer premium services to 3.5 million NTT subscribers through an existing high-speed Internet service called FLET'S.

After shuttering its Web portal and taking a non-cash charge of more than $800 million in 2001, Burbank, California-based Disney has been rebuilding its Internet division through a range of alliances.

Disney launched a family-friendly Internet service in partnership with Microsoft Corp's MSN last October. That service features parental controls and start-up pages for kids with Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Japan's Telecommunications Ministry forecast earlier this month that 60 million Japanese -- nearly half the population -- would be using high-speed broadband Internet connections by 2007, up from about 20 million now.