Comprehensive Policy Across Content and Media

■Comprehensive Policy Across Content and Media

The last meeting of the season for the content subcommittee of the Intellectual Property Division has been held. 

At the last meeting, I said that seeking a partial solution within the framework of copyright law would not lead to an optimal solution, and I sensed that people were thinking "what on earth are you talking about".

I was given 5 minutes to explain and so had homework to do to prepare. Though I was chairman, I made the following comments as a member of the committee.

------

First of all, content policy.

Starting in the 1990s, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications were all dealing with the issue separately, but in 2003, the Intellectual Property Headquarters was established and a cross-organizational framework was put in place.

Efforts have been focused on overseas development and Internet support.

Overseas development has shown results, with overseas sales increasing over the past five years in every category, including anime, movies, and broadcasting.

On the other hand, Internet development differs greatly depending on the field.

The effects are finally beginning to show.

Overseas players are a threat in terms of piracy in manga, there is Netflix and other overseas streaming of anime, there is the use of cloud computing by Google and others for gaming, and there is Spotify and other platforms for music.

Measures differ by category. For example, there are anti-piracy measures for comics, integration with telecommunications for TV, development of new areas such as e-Sports for games, and copyright handling rules for music.

Measures that cross categories and collaborate with other fields are more important.

As discussed in the Cool Japan Strategy, measures to collaborate with other industries such as food, fashion, and tourism will be important.

Next is the media policy.

Linking with media and IT for hardware for content distribution is more important, and its policy needs to be looked at in conjunction as well.

Television has played a major role in Japanese content, but the structure has changed with the development of telecommunications/the internet. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication has played a central role in telecommunications and broadcasting policy.

In 2003, when the Intellectual Property Headquarters was established, terrestrial digital broadcasting began, and in 2006, the Takenaka roundtable conference under the Koizumi administration reported a review of the telecommunications and broadcasting legal framework, which led to significant deregulation.

Fifteen years later, NHK finally implemented simultaneous broadcasting over the Internet, a bill to revise the Copyright Law was submitted to the Diet, and the major task of integrating telecommunications and broadcasting was accomplished.

However, before I knew it, the Internet had taken over as the new innovator of media, and the difference in power was so much that NTT's annual profits alone were enough to buy all the leading stations. U.S. operators were on the offensive with data and AI-based businesses.

The contrast is that while TV stations' advertising is shrinking due to COVID-19, Internet advertising has overtaken TV, and video streaming is booming with the special demand that comes with people staying at home. 

In the past, content and media, and software and hardware were one and the same. Equipment manufacturers made music records, etc., however, recently, the hardware and software industries are often at odds with each other, even when it comes to compensation for sound and visual recordings and anti-piracy measures, and integrating the two has become a challenge.

There are two major waves that content and media face, and they are COVID-19 and technology.

COVID-19 has brought live entertainment to a halt and the industry has been hit hard, while on the other hand, video streaming and e-Sports are growing rapidly with a special demand that comes with people staying at home. 

The structure of the industry will change after COVID-19, but there doesn't seem to be a strategy that comprehensively addresses this.

In terms of technology, AI and data will continue to revolutionize content and media, and 5G will also bring significant changes.

However, strategies that comprehensively address this are also lacking.

The majority of advertising will be targeted advertising based on data and AI; games will be played using the cloud system, so game consoles will no longer be necessary; and broadcasting will be possible via 5G - how will these changes be perceived? 

The main players in advancing these reforms will be IT companies and platform providers in the United states. China will also be an influential player.

There has been discussion about strengthening restrictions on foreign investment in broadcasting. However, the issue of whether to draw up a strategy that excludes foreign investment, or one that introduces foreign investment is also a point of contention.

This is why I raise the issue.

It may no longer be possible to obtain the optimal solution only by individual policies such as considering things specifically for each category, and copyright.

We now need to have a cross-sectional view of content and media.

It is necessary to integrate intellectual property policy and IT policy, and to formulate a cultural and industrial policy.

That is what I am saying.

------

That was my 5 minutes.

I have always said this, so there is nothing new in it, but it is a reiteration of my emphasis on comprehensive policy now that I have done my homework on the major integration of the Broadcasting Act and the Copyright Act.

Although I had some concrete ideas, such as the reorganization of ministries and agencies and measures to promote the introduction of technology, I did not touch on them, but rather gave general remarks.