Japan's Pioneer Corp. is to quit its loss-making flat-screen television business in a sweeping overhaul of its operations, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said Friday it will cut 1,500 contract workers in Japan by the end of March, and is headed for a billion dollar annual loss, its first in nearly 60 years.

Toshiba is planning to allow a total of about 16,700 workers to take on second jobs while they are on temporary leave due to production cuts in its struggling semiconductor and LCD divisions, company officials said Thursday.

The US switch to digital television signals will be delayed four months until June under legislation that cleared Congress on Wednesday. Obama supports the delay, sharing concerns that 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households were not ready for the congressionally mandated switch.

Panasonic, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, forecast its largest loss in seven years because of falling sales of flat-screen televisions and a stronger yen. The net loss will probably be 380 billion yen (US$4.24 billion) in the year ending March 31, compared with the 30 billion yen profit projection made on November 27.

Hitachi lowered net income forecast of ¥15 billion (approx US$169 million) to an estimated net loss of ¥700 billion for the full fiscal year ending March 2009.

The Tokyo District Court issued a verdict in favor of Sharp Corp in the lawsuit where the company sought a court order to ban imports and sales of an LCD TV and two LCD monitors that use a certain LCD module of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.