Japan: Mobile viewers must pay licence fee
March 15, 2019
By Chris Forrester
Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that people who use a mobile phone to watch TV programmes must pay a subscription fee to the country’s public broadcaster, NHK.
The ruling confirms the existing Broadcasting Law can be extended to cellular phone users with suitable equipment.
Judge Toshimitsu Yamasaki rejected two appeals challenging that the law applies to an individual who owns a cell phone with a TV function.