Japanese TV Is Losing to Wii

Ratings are plummeting for Japanese prime-time TV shows as audiences increasingly turn to playing games on Nintendo's Wii system. Wii, which dominates the nation's $30B video games market, has stolen TV's "golden hour,"  thanks in part to parents who are choosing to share family time on Wii's interactive sports-simulating games rather than watching TV, the Times of London reports.

 "There has never been a period of decline" in TV like this, said one official. No single show has drawn more than a 9% audience share for the first time in nearly 20 years. Wii has widened the video-game audience beyond its traditional constituency of 8-to-16-year-olds, the Times observes. (More Nintendo Wii stories.)