Competition is heating up among Japan’s big time Internet TV operators, the Yomiuri writes:
More than 10 million people have signed up for Usen Corp.’s Gyao Net TV service since it started broadcasting in April 2005. Yet despite the numbers putting the free service ahead of competitors such as Yahoo, the nation’s largest cable broadcaster’s service is still deep in the red.
Go read it if you care to.
The article goes on to note that this and other services continue to post losses while they compete for viewers. I would like to heartily to suggest that all three services do the following:
OPEN ACCESS TO FOREIGN VIEWERS!!!!!!
(Note: All of the top 3 Internet TV sites in Japan use DRM to keep foreign viewers out)
This way, you could sell ads to a much wider spectrum of merchants (j-list? foreign companies catering to Japanese living abroad?) and quickly boost viewership! Get on it people!
It’s possible that they can’t give access to foreign viewers because the license agreements for their programming only allow transmission within Japan. (Essentially the same reason why you can’t use iTunes Japan.) They might also be worried about being sued overseas by disgruntled foreign viewers–or getting busted for violating some country’s liberal libel or obscenity laws.
Yes, it is in the license agreements. From what I can tell, one big reason the licensing agreements are so prudish is because to rebroadcast a TV show you have to get the permission of every performer rather than a single rightsholder. That’s what makes live broadcasting on the Internet next to impossible and in general puts the talent stables like Horipro (which Akiko Wada is a part of) in a strong bargaining position.
Japan must share Wada Akiko with the world!