LeTV trading to resume after Sharp upset

Chinese online video content provider Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp (LeTV) Tuesday issued a statement confirming Sharp Corporation's denial of involvement with LeTV's recently debuted smart TV.

LeTV posted the announcement late Tuesday after halting its shares trading Monday with a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange saying media reports might "greatly influence its share trading prices."

Shares of LeTV resume trading Wednesday.

Earlier this month, ­letv.com unveiled its first smart TV product, named Super TV, and claimed the product featured 60-inch Sharp display panels, Qualcomm Snapdragon processors and dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity.

LeTV's chairman and CEO Jia Yueting said at the unveiling press conference that the Super TV was the result of a joint effort with Sharp, US semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc, and Foxconn, the Taiwan-based contract producer. The company's shares then climbed over 24 percent.

But Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp Corporation late Monday issued a statement saying it had neither formed any business cooperation with LeTV for its smart TV nor had any involvement with development of the product.

LeTV's said the company itself has no partnership with Sharp, but has formed a cooperation with Foxconn, so the Super TV features panels produced by the joint venture founded by Sharp and Foxconn.

"We are sorry for Sharp's imagining things," reads the LeTV statement.

In an earlier response on Sina Weibo, LeTV's vice president Zhang Te wrote that only companies from the Internet generation have the ability to develop a smart TV, asking, "would an old power like Sharp have such product knowledge and development ability?"

The Beijing-based Internet company saw its 2012 profits reached 194 million yuan ($31.7 million), a surge of 48 percent over a year earlier, while many other rivals, such as Baidu Inc's iQiyi.com and Youku Tudou Inc, are still in the red.

LeTV's self-branded smart TV set is seen as a signal that the company is aiming to challenge the TV industry's traditional players in China's burgeoning smart TV market.