Golden Anniversary
In Japan, broadcasting services are provided by the publicly-funded
NHK (Nihon Hoso Kyokai—Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
and a number of commercial broadcasting stations. NHK is financed
by subscription fees paid by TV-owners under mandatory contract
with the corporation. As of end of December 2003, the number
of NHK subscribers was about 38.2 million.(*1) NHK has headquarters
in Tokyo and regional centers in seven major cities: Sapporo,
Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Matsuyama, and Fukuoka. It
also has local broadcasting stations in all other prefectural
capitals.
The year 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of land-based television
broadcasting in Japan, which was first launched by NHK in February
1953.(*26) Besides NHK, there are 127 commercial terrestrial
TV broadcasters across the nation.(*3) Five Tokyo-based TV stations
have built up national networks:
Nippon Television Network with 29 local stations, Tokyo Broadcasting
System (TBS) with 27, Fuji Television Network with 27, TV Asahi
with 23, and TV TOKYO with five.The number of cable television
subscribers is rising steadily. As of the end of March 2003,
about 15.1 million households were subscribing to a cable television
service, a 16.5% increase from a year earlier.
Satellite broadcasting began in August 1989 when NHK commenced
programming on its two broadcasting satellite (BS) stations,
followed by the commercial entertainment station WOWOW. PerfecTV,
which began operations in October 1996 as the first digital
communications satellite (CS) broadcaster in Japan, merged with
JskyB in May 1998 to form SKYPerfecTV. In March 2000, SKY's
only competitor, DirecTV, announced that it would discontinue
its service by the end of the year and assist its subscribers
in transferring to SKYPerfecTV.(*4)
NHK and several other newly-established commercial BS broadcasters
began full-scale BS digital broadcasting service in December
2000. Digital terrestrial (land-based) broadcasting was also
begun in December 2003 initially in three major cities —Tokyo,
Osaka, and Nagoya—and neighboring areas. All analog broadcasting
services, both terrestrial and satellite, are slated for termination
by 2011.
As of the end of November 2002, there were 47 AM and 212 FM
commercial radio broadcasters in Japan. Of the 212 FM operators,
159 are community stations. NHK operates one FM and two AM broadcasting
channels.
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