Japan: NHK proposes fees for online TV
June 28, 2017
A committee of NHK has come up with a proposal for charging fees on households without television sets for watching TV programmes distributed through the Internet simultaneously.
The committee also proposed that NHK not charge additional fees to households that have already signed viewing contracts with the public broadcaster when members of the households watch programmes online.
The broadcast law requires residents in Japan to conclude the contracts if they own TV programme receivers.
Currently, the law prohibits NHK from distributing TV programmes at the same time through the Internet on a regular basis.
If the law is amended to allow such simultaneous programme distribution, fees should be imposed as soon as non-TV devices such as smartphones and personal computers become ready for receiving programmes online upon downloading of apps, the committee said.