December 1st, 2004, saw the much heralded launch of BBC Worldwide's latest overseas venture, BBC Japan. We had long been waiting for quality BBC television entertainment to be made available in this part of the world. When it finally materialized, however, 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 key factors involved. While tuner-and-dish sets for SkyPerfectTV on JCSAT-3/4 — the oldest and largest digital broadcast satellite operation in Japan — could be had for as little as the yen equivalent of $150, equipment for rival BS/CS110, where BBC Japan was hosted, was priced at $500 or more. Because BS/CS110 carried public broadcaster NHK, as well as affiliates of the five major terrestrial networks, it had acquired an air of exclusivity that was not lost on makers of satellite-receiving equipment.
In Japan, 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 broadcast surcharge to state-sponsored NHK. On top of the regular license fee for NHK's two terrestrial channels, this added up to three times the $7 per month charged by BBC Japan.
Customer demand for NHK's technically sophisticated but comparatively expensive digital satellite services had, according to press reports, not lived up to expectations in the absence of sufficiently diverse programming. Although sales of large flat-screen TV sets equipped with built-in BS/CS110-satellite tuners were on the rise, in general these big-ticket items remained 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, especially 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 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
news and information channel. This was already reaching into the
homes of nearly two million Japanese thanks to its inclusion in the
mainstream SkyPerfecTV service on JCSAT-3/4, where customer service
was available in English and virtually all other foreign satellite
TV transmissions beamed into Japan were hosted. According to its now
defunct website,
BBC Japan's appointed distributor
Japan MediArk
Co., Ltd. (JMC) 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 that 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 no promotion of BBC Japan on the existing platform of BBC World, 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 on May 1st.
In the same circular, Japan MediArk is said to have offered 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 splash out on the expensive new equipment needed to receive BBC Japan as a result of its choice of distributor.
According to the gentleman in question, it was his phone call that first alerted BBC Worldwide to what was going on. It would seem they were 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 on end. But the realization that major corporate backers Dentsu Inc., Jiji Press, Kyodo News, NTT DoCoMo, NTT DATA, Matsushita Panasonic and Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd. would not be offering further support to the satellite broadcaster they had sponsored came like a bolt from the blue for BBC Worldwide.
Interestingly, in contrast to the local media fanfare surrounding the launch of BBC Japan, the channel's demise was barely afforded a whisper. The Japanese press is fond of talking up new exciting new business ventures, not so fond of going into details about embarrassing failures. Conducting a search of The Japan Times web site at the time, I could not find a single reference to BBC Japan’s sudden disappearance, this despite the fact the channel used to feature prominently on the TV page of the print edition.
BBC Worldwide released a statement saying it was looking for a new and presumably more reliable distributor for BBC Japan. If still serious about making a success of this project, it will need to adopt a far more hands-on approach of the kind preferred by most Japanese operations abroad. It can also no longer afford to ignore the advice and local knowledge of the English-speaking community in Japan, who someday hope to enjoy BBC entertainment at a reasonable price.
