Speaking at a media breakfast to announce TV Man Union Inc.’s collaboration with FremantleMedia, chairman and CEO of TV Man Union Inc., Yutaka Shigenobu said that Japanese media is in a constant stage of change. “With the transition to digital terrestrial broadcasting in 2011, the way we produce and broadcast programming will diversify more than ever before. Relations between foreign and Japanese programmers and producers will become even more important,” said Shigenobu. “Currently Japanese programming is not looking internationally. This alliance now creates opportunities to combine our creative energies, and exchange innovative ideas, enabling us to begin creating and producing shows, then exploit their format rights worldwide. I believe there has never been an alliance like this where producers have had such an opportunity to come together,” he said. “This alliance will help build opportunities for us to make our shows really work for Japanese audiences,” said FremantleMedia CEO Tony Cohen. “The deal also means we can take more Japanese content across our global network.” Shigenobu spoke to Television Asia Plus with candour, explaining the difficulties faced by independent production companies (treated as service providers rather than partners) in a market ‘monopolized’ by broadcasters. “Broadcasters should be equal partners with independent companies,” he said, “for the exchange of creative ideas.” Even the newly-announced collaboration, which will see FremantleMedia shows produced in, and for, Japan; as well as TV Man Union content and formats exported globally, has been a five-year courtship, the success of which Shigenobu attributes in part to FremantleMedia Japan’s managing director Douglas Williams. And making formats like Fremantle’s work in Japan is no easy task, with, according to one source, only seven Western formats having succeeded there in 25 years. Equally candid about the increasing challenges facing Japan’s TV industry, was Tetsu Uemura, managing director of Tohokushinsha Film Corp. (TFC), A&E Television Networks’ joint venture partner in The History Channel Japan Corp. “Back in 1986 when I started in the industry, it was a 20-channel analogue market, but around every five years we have seen a new development that requires further investment,” says Uemura. “While the shift from analogue to digital lowers distribution costs by around 20%, any revenue gain from that is counteracted by the fact that digital enables the entry of new competitors.” With the 20-channel environment exploding into a market of over 100 channels, Uemura says that for many players, long-term survival will be far more of a priority than increasing profits. He says it will be a case of the survival of the fittest and seeing who’s going to bail, “if you’re not in it, you’re out of the game. HD, for example, is a great opportunity for us in the long-term, but at the moment its main impact is rising delivery and production costs – the sector gaining the most from HD currently, are the hardware provision industries.” Senior vice president international, A&E Television Networks Sean Cohan echoes Uemura’s long-term optimism for HD, and describes AETN’s 10-year JV with TFC as a very fruitful partnership. “The History Channel Japan was established ten years ago, giving it a great first-mover advantage. It’s in the top 10 most-viewed channels, not just within the documentary genre, but in the multi-channel (cross-genre) top 10. Combining our programming and marketing expertise, with TFC’s local infrastructure and local knowledge, TFC have proved the perfect partner,” says Cohan. “No market is as complex and challenging and surprising as Japan; and nowhere is it more necessary to find the right partner.” Also celebrating a decade in Japan is Discovery Networks Asia, with three channel brands, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery HD, boasting 11.9million cumulative subscribers, according to figures from Jupiter TV Research. Discovery Japan exceeded 6 million households for the first time in 2007, seen as a 60.5% penetration of the pay-TV universe (definitions of which differ) and, according to ‘B-maga’ by Satemaga BI Inc., Discovery is the 3rd most distributed international channel in Japan. Animal Planet has seen its subscriber numbers rise 17% since its launch there in 2000; and 2005-launched Discovery HD saw a year on year 25% subscriber rise in January 2008. According to James Gibbons, president and representative director, Discovery/Animal Planet Japan, the company is committed to featuring Japanese topics and locations in its international programming. “Over the years, many Japanese stories have been covered in our programs, from scientific breakthroughs to engineering feats. Most recently we produced a Japan episode of the Discovery Atlas HD series. We also seek opportunities to co-produce shows about Japan which fit Discovery’s brand positioning and key genres.” Gibbons says that while Discovery’s offerings in Japan thus far have centered on key factual entertainment genres, he says demand may widen. “We believe that there are ongoing opportunities to satisfy both a deeper and a broader thirst for knowledge and lifestyle content, and are always reviewing the possibility of launching more services to meet this demand.” The same sentiment is echoed by BBC Worldwide Japan Limited’s manager programme sales Miyuki Kinoshita, who is seeing a shift in demand from erstwhile core sales of factual programming into Japan, towards the sale of non-factual genres. Japan’s biggest broadcaster NHK recently picked up four BBC Worldwide titles: Hustle, Hotel Babylon, State Within and State of Play. And as part of British Year in Japan, LaLa TV picked up a range of BBC dramas including Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Jane Eyre and Bleak House. For FOX International Channels Asia, the situation in Japan is reversed, with non-factual genres at the core of their existing business as they eye expansion opportunities for their factual channel bouquet. President, FOX International Channels Asia Ward Platt says they currently operate six channels in Japan: 1998-launched US series channel Fox, which airs US TV series including Prison Break, House, 24, NCIS, American Idol, nip/tuck, Las Vegas and Bones; 2002-launched National Geographic Channel; 2005-launched Fox Life HD, female skewed drama and lifestyle including Medium, Ghost Whisperer, l-word, America’s Next Top Model, Saving Grace; 2007-launched FoxCrime and Fox Movies; and Baby TV which launched April 1, 2008. Explains Platt, “We participate in several co-productions with NHK on the documentary side. As for US TV series, we are exploring to include Japanese actors in several series as well as to shoot some episodes of certain series in Japan. We have established a small production facility in Tokyo where we voice-over 100% of our National Geographic programmes into Japanese as well as create promotional material for all our channels, and lastly produce content in support of our advertising and marketing partnerships.” In terms of content demand, Platt says Fox International Channels Asia has seen larger demand for US TV series and Hollywood movies channels than factual channels to date, “However with the strong performance of National Geographic Channel in recent years, we are hopeful of gaining carriage for the Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Adventure, National Geographic Channel HD and Nat Geo music brands in the near future.” As for HD, Platt says they broadcast one Fox channel in HD and it is likely that National Geographic Channel will commence HD broadcast in Japan in 2009. Says Discovery/Animal Planet’s Gibbons, “The transition to HD is ongoing and Discovery is at the forefront with the first and still the only international HD documentary channel in the market. We believe HD is the future and are fully focused on continuing to be the world’s leading international provider of HD networks.” And over at Comcast International Media Group, managing director Asia Pacific Christine Fellowes says that company has had a presence in Japan for over twelve years syndicating Hollywood celebrity and entertainment news programming to the leading pay-TV channels, and through local channel partnerships. In partnership with JCTV, localized 24-hour sports channel, The Golf Channel Japan launched in 2006. CIMG also has a long-term relationship with Jupiter Entertainment Co.’s Movie Plus Channel (previously known as CSN1 Movie Channel from the former Cable Soft Network Corporation) which has licensed Live From the Red Carpet: Academy Awards coverage every year, along with a package of programming including Behind the Scenes, True Hollywood Story, 101 Countdowns and E! Specials. Tohokushinsha has licensed E! Entertainment programming for the past four years, including Live From the Red Carpet: The Primetime Emmys, True Hollywood Story, E! Specials. Jupiter TV’s LaLa channel has licensed E! programs True Hollywood Story, In Focus, Celebrity Profile, Revealed, E!TV Specials to complement their key Hollywood series; and News Broadcasting Japan previously licensed programming from E! for their FOX channel including True Hollywood Story, It’s Good to Be, Wild On, Rank and Style Star from the Style Network. In terms of new opportunities on the horizon, Fellowes says that broadband platforms seem to be focused on long form movies and drama series, rather than short form programming. “But some of the companies with broadband platforms offering interesting opportunities to content providers include: KDDI’s EST service, Hikari de DVD, launched middle of last year, whereby content is purchased and downloaded via broadband but can be burned to DVD as well. Neo Index has a broadband platform called Miranca, an on-demand ‘digital rental service’ that parallels their TV VOD service Nextensive. Usen operate 3 broadband platforms – Broad Gate 01, which is a closed (must register and download player) PPV only service. The other two, Usen Showtime and Gyao are both open on the Internet with Usen Showtime being PPV, and Gyao ad-supported. Gyao is probably the best known as it’s the most successful VOD service in Japan with around 13million registered users. And Softbank operates a PPV VOD service called Club IT Arena. Their service is similar to KDDI’s Hikari de DVD as it also allows content to be burned to DVD but only can be played back on PCs and not conventional DVD players.” In closing, CIMG’s Fellowes highlights Japan’s mobile broadcast platform ‘1seg’ which harnesses technology similar to T-DMB in Korea and DVB H. “Initially only digital terrestrial channels have been allowed to be simulcast on the platform, however this could become an interesting space if regulatory conditions change.” Says Discovery’s Gibbons, “The number of channels on pay-TV in Japan continues to increase, with a broader range of interests being targeted. However, pay-TV penetration is limited to 20% of TV households in the Japanese market, and there is a limit to how many services the industry can sustain. Every new service that launches must have a unique offering and clearly identified target audience. Japan has invested heavily in both broadband and mobile infrastructure. The market is beginning to experiment with ways to integrate content offerings across multiple platforms in a commercially meaningful way. It will be interesting to see which models succeed as it may offer a guide to how these markets will develop in other parts of the world. Concludes Fox’s Platt, “While subscription television has been less successful (due to strong terrestrials, many free satellite channels, very limited strong local product on pay-TV) to date than in most other Asian countries, there are encouraging signs that penetration levels will pass 30% in the near future. If this ‘tipping point” can be reached, then the industry will be well on the way to becoming a ‘must have’ in the majority of Japanese homes.”