BBC Japan comes and goes
on 'wrong' first-choice satellite
December 1st, 2004, saw the much
heralded launch of BBC
Worldwide's latest overseas venture, BBC
Japan. For many years we had waited patiently to see quality
BBC television entertainment distributed in this secluded corner
of Asia, but when it finally materialized, it frustratingly turned
out to be on the 'wrong' satellite from the point of view of many
in the foreign community here, people who represented a sizeable
portion of BBC Japan's potential audience.
Affordability and value for money were the
key factors involved. While tuner-and-dish sets for SkyPerfectTV
on JCSAT-3/4 — the oldest and largest digital
broadcast satellite operation in Japan — can be had for as
little as $150, those for rival BS/CS110, where BBC Japan was
hosted, have been consistently overpriced at $500 or more. Because
BS/CS110 carries public broadcaster NHK, as well as affiliates of
the five major terrestrial networks, it has acquired an air of
snobbish exclusivity that has not
been lost on makers of satellite-receiving equipment.
In Japan, the major home electronics
manufacturers see to it that there are no general coverage
satellite tuners or dishes on sale to the public. Each new
satellite requires a separate investment on the part of the
viewer, and what we get to see is tightly controlled. Watching BBC Japan on the BS/CS110 satellite
combination also obliged
subscribers to fork out a monthly satellite
receiving fee to state-sponsored
NHK — a sum three times the $7 per month charged by BBC
Japan.
Customer demand for NHK's technically
sophisticated but comparatively expensive digital satellite
services has according to press reports not lived up to
expectation in the absence of a sufficiently diverse program
output. Although sales of big flat-screen TV sets equipped with
built-in BS/CS110-satellite tuners are on the rise, in general
these big-ticket items remain the domain of older folks and the
well-to-do in larger homes, not the broader masses BBC Japan
should have been reaching out to in its initial phase. Here, as elsewhere,
it is the
younger generation who are most receptive to fresh ideas and thinking.
Many of us expats were all along wondering why the
BBC could not have chosen to work on this significant new project with the same
Japanese partner as it did to launch the highly successful BBC
World. This news and information channel now reaches into the
homes of nearly two million Japanese thanks to its inclusion in
the mainstream SkyPerfecTV service on JCSAT-3/4, where
customer service is available in English and virtually all other foreign satellite TV transmissions beamed into Japan
are hosted. According to its now blocked website, BBC Japan's appointed
distributor Japan
MediArk lacked any previous experience in television
broadcasting and only anticipated some 100,000 subscribers to the new
channel in the first year of service — this in a country of 127 million. At this rate it
was always going to take forever to make proper
inroads here, and it surely points to a lack of ambition and scope
in the BBC's chosen satellite option.
Because of their completely separate distribution, there
was to
my knowledge not one single promotion of BBC Japan on the already
existing platform of BBC
World. This was a further opportunity missed on
the part of the BBC.
May 1, 2006: BBC Japan taken off air
Doubts about
Japan MediArk’s ability to meet its obligations to UK partner BBC
Worldwide were to prove well founded. Without BBC Worldwide’s prior
knowledge or consent, BBC Japan subscribers were informed by letter in
March 2006 that the service would be suspended as of May 1.
In the same circular, Japan MediArk is said to
have pushed BBC programs for sale on DVD. One British expat e-mailed us to
say he had taken such exception to the impropriety of such an offer accompanying
the devastating news of closure that he immediately telephoned the BBC
in London to complain. He was one of many who had recently felt compelled
to lash out on the expensive new equipment needed to receive BBC Japan as
a result of its unbending
single-satellite policy.
According to the gentleman in question, it was his
phone call that first alerted BBC Worldwide to what was going on in these far-flung
islands. They had apparently been caught napping. Japan MediArk’s financial
difficulties came as no big surprise to those of us who noticed they had been running the same shows over and over for
months, but the realization that big corporate shareholders Dentsu Inc.,
Jiji Press, Kyodo News, NTT DoCoMo, NTT DATA, Matsushita Panasonic and Dai
Nippon Printing Co. Ltd. could not be counted on to bail the firm out
apparently came like a bolt
from the blue for BBC bigwigs.
What is interesting to observe is that, in stark
contrast to the local media fanfare surrounding the launch of BBC Japan, its
demise has barely been afforded a whisper. The Japanese press is not fond
of publicizing the details of potentially embarrassing domestic corporate
failures — especially when one of the shareholders is the Kyodo news
agency. Conducting a search of the Japan Times web site, one cannot find a
single reference to BBC Japan’s sudden disappearance, this despite the
fact that the channel used to feature prominently on the TV page of the
print edition.
BBC Worldwide now says it's looking for a new and
presumably more reliable distributor for BBC Japan. If it really is serious about making a success
of this venture (there has been precious little evidence so far) then it
simply has to adopt a
more hands-on
approach of the kind preferred by Japanese operations abroad. It can also
no longer afford to ignore the concerns and local knowledge of the
English-
speaking community in Japan, who are patiently waiting for proper access
to a broad range of BBC programming at a reasonable price.
© David Appleyard 2006 All rights reserved
Editor's
update, 2006-12-01
In a surprise News
Release (PDF file) dated July 31, 2006, Sky Perfect Communications Ltd. announced its acquisition of Japan
MediArk, Co., Ltd. No date was set for the return of BBC Japan and
now, four months on, one is inclined to believe that those behind the
project truly got their fingers burnt. They would seem to be in no
hurry to give it a second try, even in partnership with Japan's
leading experts in the field of digital satellite broadcasting.
This page last updated 2008-06-16
Eyes on Japan compiled and edited by
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