Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (25)―SKY Perfect! e2 gets on Flet's Hikari

SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. announced Wednesday that its subsidiary Opticast Inc. has begun to relay the 110°CS digital broadcasting service SKY Perfect! e2 to the Flet's Hikari network―Flet's TV and SKY Perfect! Hikari―operated by NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp.

The relay service, like CATV, will allow the Flet's Hikari users to watch without a satellite dish the programs of SKY Perfect! e2 on the TV set equipped with the CS tuner and terminal.

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (24)―CS HDTV on FTTH

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (24)―CS HDTV on FTTH

K Cable Television (K-CAT) Corp., a CATV station that covers part of Kansai region, and K-Opticom Corp., the fiber-optic telecommunications carrier that offers the triple play service branded as “eo Hikari” in the region, announced Tuesday that they will begin to provide hi-def TV programs from the CS channels via K-CAT's fiber-optic TV service “K-CAT eo Hikari TV” on May 1, 2009.

The channels, each of which will be relayed as an optional one for the service at each price, include Fuji TV NEXT, Fuji TV ONE, Fuji TV TWO, Eisei Gekijo (Satellite Theater) HD, and J sports Plus.

K-CAT and K-Opticom are already relaying the terrestrial and BS digital TV channels based on the hi-def system.

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (23)―Hikari TV prevails faster

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (23)―Hikari TV prevails faster

NTT Plala Inc. announced Monday that the number of accumulated subscribers to its IPTV service Hikari TV topped 500 thousand on March 11 and is expected to reach 520 thousand by the end of this month.

The number was about 250 thousand when the service was launched on March 31, 2008.

NTT Plala aims to gain more than 1.1 million accumulated subscribers by March 31, 2010.

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (22)―TV to be digitized in public institutions

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (22)―TV to be digitized in public institutions

Japan's government party decided to replace analogue TV sets installed in the public institutions including schools and welfare facilities with digital ones by the end of this year on March 18 at the working group on promotion of terrestrial digital broadcasting.

The party is planning to include some ¥400 billion in FY 2009's supplementary budget to provide about 2 million TV sets that comply with the terrestrial digital TV broadcasting system for these public institutions.

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (21)―IPTV on NGN covers Aichi and Kanagawa

One-Seg makes a quick report on J-league

NHK (nippon hoso kyokai) began to provide the information about Japan Professional Football League on its One-Seg data channel on March 6.

The league matches of 2009 kicked off on March 7.

The information includes blow-by-blow accounts of the soccer matches and the standings of the teams.

NHK to launch One Seg-specific programs in April

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (21)--IPTV on NGN covers Aichi and Kanagawa

NTT Plala Inc. and I-Cast, Inc. announced Monday that it will begin to relay terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in Aichi and Kanagawa through their IPTV service Hikari TV on the NGN platform Flet's Hikari Next on March 24.

NTT Plala and I-Cast have begun that only in Osaka and Tokyo so far.

Survival in digitization of TV in Japan (20)--Turn your eyes to U.S. [2]

NHK to launch One Seg-specific programs in April

NHK (nippon hoso kyokai) announced Wednesday that it will begin to broadcast programs specific to One Seg on its educational channel on April 6, 2009.

The programs will be on the air mainly at lunchtime and late at night on weekdays and on Saturday afternoon.

In the rest of the time slots, the One Seg channel will show the same programs as ones you can watch on TV.

The programs dedicated for One Seg will feature video clips streaming for 5 or 15 minutes that are edited to be suitable for watching on keitai.