Amendments to the Broadcasting Act and the Radio Act

Abstract

In light of the changes in the environment surrounding broadcasting in recent years, Amendments to the Broadcasting Act and the Radio Act, which was approved by the 211th ordinary session of the Diet, offers domestic basic broadcasters the following measures to ensure that they will continue to play their social roles in broadcasting in the future while improving the efficiency of their business operations: (i) they can operate the simultaneous broadcasting of programs in multiple target regions for broadcasts; (ii) they can use relay station facilities jointly; and (iii) they can operate broadcasting management system more ensurely.

With regard to (i), the Government will revise the approval system for the Business Infrastructure Reinforcement Plan and establish a system under which domestic basic broadcasters in different target regions for broadcasts can simultaneously broadcast the same program in regions, including those designated by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications as regions where a decline in demand for domestic basic broadcasting services is recognized, regardless of their individual business conditions, under certain conditions, such as by taking measures to ensure regionality.

With regard to (ii), in order to make it possible for multiple specified terrestrial basic broadcasters to increase the efficiency of their business operations by jointly using relay station facilities, the Act will allow specified terrestrial basic broadcasters to conduct terrestrial basic broadcasting operations using relay stations of other parties (suppliers of basic broadcasting stations) after confirmation by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications.In addition, in areas designated by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications as areas where there is a particularly high need to improve the efficiency of the terrestrial basic broadcasting operations of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), only the subsidiary of NHK will be able to own and manage relay stations and use them for the terrestrial basic broadcasting operations of the NHK. The transfer of NHK's broadcasting equipment to the subsidiary will be an exception to the Broadcasting Act’s restriction on the transfer of broadcasting equipment of NHK.

With regard to (iii),the basic broadcasters and basic broadcasting station suppliers will be obliged to maintain the broadcasting management system for operating the facilities ,including that operated by outsourcees, in compliance with the standards specified by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. And by adding matters pertaining to the outsourcing of the operation of facilities to the matters stated in the application for approval of basic broadcasting operations and license of basic broadcasting stations, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications will be able to grasp the actual status of the outsourcing.