Page 48 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013
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NHK World TV is a somewhat late starter among the international news channels but
has been making steady inroads over the last few years, not least because all of its
programming is delivered in HD. We spoke to Takahisa Furukawa who as Senior
Manager in the Strategic Planning Division of NHK WORLD formulates the
distribution strategy for TV and online – what's the relationship with JIB?
HK is Japanʹs
public
broadcaster
covering the
entire nation but
almost no money
is given to NHK
from the government ‐ our main
source of funding is a viewing fee
paid by households who own TV
sets. NHK World is one of the
departments of NHK so it is
included in NHK in that sense.
Japan International Broadcasting
(JIB) on the other hand is a separate
entity. It is one of the affiliates of
NHK and NHK is assigning JIB
part of its tasks, such as
distribution and programme
production. So I and my colleagues
at NHK devise the strategy for
distribution and assign the work to
our colleagues at JIB.
What is your strategic focus?
Naturally our strongest foothold is
in Japan and Asia. We have 54
bureaux in Japan, including our
Tokyo headquarters, and 30 offices
overseas. Roughly two‐thirds of the
overseas offices are concentrated in
Asia‐Pacific, Middle East and Far
East. So of course we are taking full
advantage of our newsgathering
capacity in these regions when we
are competing with other global
channels.
NHK is a public broadcaster
funded by fees paid by TV
households, and this guarantees
our editorial independence. We
always endeavour to provide
accurate and unbiased information
to the best of our capacity. So at
NHK World TV, our 24 hour
English‐language channel, we
provide up to the minute news or
news shows every hour on the
hour. The rest of the programming
is made up of a wide range of
programmes which are focused on
this part of the world, from in‐
depth business analysis and
documentaries to science, J‐Pop
music, fashion, manga, travelogues
and more.
Does your HD content give you a
competitive edge?
We believe so. As digitalization
progresses in many areas of the
world, it allows the cable or
satellite TV operators to run more
channels, and an increasing
number of platform operators are
opting for HD. Yes, being the
world’s first international TV news
channel in HD was one of the key
selling points for us in many
markets. We are distributing our
contents in HD all the time but
whether the receiving partners can
take it in HD depends on the
situation in that particular market.
Right now, we are doing HD in the
UK, Korea, partly in the USA,
France and elsewhere.
What are you offering for mobile?
Our main platforms are satellite
and cable TV and IPTV. We are
N
HD
was one of
the key
selling
points for
us inmany
markets
“
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tv/
PICTURE
BELIEVING INTHE
48
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ISSUE 1 2013
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THE CHANNEL
