There must be very few homes in the developed world that don't have a television, and Japan is no exception. Even in the Internet era, as terrestrial TV is slowly being replaced by networked TVs, cable channels and computers, regular TV broadcasting still makes up for much of many people's leisure time.
However, on-demand video services over the Internet have gradually been getting a foothold in the market. This week I'll introduce several of the major services and their characteristics.
In Japan, it has been possible to watch TV on the go since April 2006 by using 1seg-digital-TV-capable cellphones. Despite the fact that the iPhone and imported Android handsets do not support 1seg, by March 2012, 81.6 percent of all cellphones in Japan had the receiver function, enabling users to watch regular terrestrial programs for free, though at a rather low quality.