Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 3

 ■Revisions Enacted to the Broadcast Act with Approval of Simultaneous Transmission by NHK - Part 3

Now I would like to touch on this revision to the law.

I do not have much of an opinion on the enhancement of governance over NHK, duty of loyalty for executives, and the disclosure of information because they are a matter of course, but there is hope that NHK will finally be able to carry out simultaneous transmission.

In addition to the approval of standards for execution and checks in the form of the requirement to submit plans, NHK will be asked to cooperate with commercial broadcasting for their online business.

Attention is being focused on how this cooperation will go.

Japan should take a similar approach to the United Kingdom and implement strategies based on a foundation that connects NHK and commercial broadcasting.

A simultaneous transmission platform, akin to the TV version of radiko, should be created.

A foundation that connects NHK and commercial broadcasting should be built out to promote IP cloud support and data usage.

A shared platform for broadcast stations should be formed to support promotion.

An IP cloud base should be prepared for delivery to various devices through various transmission paths while also significantly reducing costs.

Viewership activity should be solicited using AI to handle big data on viewership history.

It would be beneficial to create this foundation while cooperating.

In addition, the facilitation of copyright processing is presented as an issue to promote online transmission.

Copyright processing is complicated because the positioning of copyrights differs for broadcasting and communication.

There may be a need to revise the system to improve this matter, but efforts between private companies are the first priority.

It is thought that the role that NHK will play here is significant.

The reason that I personally believe this is happening late is because online support is NHK’s obligation in my mind.

Under the Broadcast Act, the objective for NHK is to provide universally good programming, or in other words secure the national minimum and take a lead in making progress on an international scale.

The reason that the Japanese government is involved in designating NHK as a special public corporation is because it must lead Japan while developing and introducing technology.

On a side note, NTT has been designated as a special public corporation in order to provide reliable service and conduct technological research.

However, NHK has fallen behind in introducing new technologies.

Given its relationship with commercial broadcasting, it is rumored that there is a cap of 2.5% of license fees for NHK in order to avoid squeezing the private sector.

There is no special basis behind this figure from a national perspective.

The total is just short of 20 billion yen, but this is not a scale that requires adjustment on a national scale.

I would like there to be an evaluation on how to invest in this field in the 100 billion to 1 trillion yen scale as a national strategy.

What I would like NHK and the Japanese government to do is to improve utility for citizens.

I would like for it to be possible to watch on multiple networks on multiple devices anywhere at any time.

Next is to flesh out support for commercial broadcasting.

Regarding the aforementioned issue, I would like for a next-generation environment to be developed, even if it means using a larger portion of the license fees and cooperating with commercial broadcasting.

It is not time for petty domestic quarreling, as we must pursue policies from the perspective of how the Japanese media industry can survive on the global scale.

There are major tasks associated with this bill.

A discussion from a long-term perspective is now required.

Various themes come to mind, such as systems specific to broadcasting, such as prefectural and regional licensing and the removal of mass media concentration, the objectives and management style of NHK, and the research and development capabilities for communication and broadcasting.

I believe it would be best to carry out major discussions regarding the future of media.