Japan passes law to make webcasts mandatory for NHK

Tokyo (Jiji Press) – Japan’s parliament on Friday passed a bill to make webcasts of television programs mandatory for public broadcaster NHK, or Japan Broadcasting Corp., just like conventional broadcasts.

The bill to revise the Broadcasting Act was approved by a majority vote, with support mainly from the ruling camp, during a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors, the Upper House of the Reichstag, after it was passed by the House of Representatives, the House of Representatives, had been adopted. last week.

With more and more people obtaining information via the Internet instead of TV, the bill aims to improve viewing of NHK programs on smartphones, even by people without TV.

Both simultaneous and missed program distribution is offered online, as well as program-related information. For NHK, offering such services will be a requirement rather than an optional one. Users of NHK’s online services are required to subscribe to the broadcaster, even if they do not have a television.