Japan Media Review Update: August 30, 2004

JMR Staff (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California)

Review
The following reviews are posted at: http://www.japanmediareview.com/japan/digest/digest.php

NHK's Olympics Ratings Soar
From the Daily Yomiuri: NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, has enjoyed high ratings for its live coverage of the Athens Olympics on its five channels. According to NHK's head of program promotion, although key events are broadcast late at night or early in the morning, the broadcaster has kept viewer ratings in double digits. NHK's five channels, including terrestrial and satellite offerings, allow the network to broadcast most events live. "People don't want highlights programsÑthey want to see the Games live," said the executive. While terrestrial private broadcast stations have shown a total of 169 hours of Olympic coverage, each station has only one channel and can broadcast only the few events they have rights to. NHK has one other key advantage over its for-profit competition: no commercials.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori

Pan-Asian Broadband Plan Announced
From the Daily Yomiuri: The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications announced a plan to launch a high-speed Internet network among Asian countries to promote international e-commerce, regional medical care, and educational exchanges. The project, named the Asia Broadband Program, will accommodate each country's efforts in technology, with the aid of fiber-optic and satellite communications. For example, a remote medical service, called "telemedicine," which allows people outside of Japan to communicate with Japanese doctors via a high-speed Internet, will be available by the end of fiscal 2005. Since the sophisticated technology for transmitting medical images in real time is required for the service, Japan is scheduled to experiment with other countries, such as China and Thailand. The current Internet technologies in Asian nations will be also shifted to international standards, the ministry sources said. The telecom ministry is seeking around 2 billion yen for the program, and started forming a study group made by experts from academics, government officials and business people.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori

DSL Subscriptions Grow
From Nikkei Electronic Asia: Subscriptions to DSL Internet services surpassed 12.32 million at the end of July, according to an announcement from Japan's Telecommunications Ministry. The number of DSL subscribers increased by about 257,000 from the previous month, which is slightly more than the increase between May and June. Softbank BB Corp. showed a decline in the number of new subscribers, possibly because of fallout from the news that its IP phone service, BB Phone, had leaked subscribers' personal information (See Week in Review 06.19.04). As of the end of July, the number of subscribers to Softbank BB's DSL service stood at 4,350,000.
-- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori