Communications chief Sanae Takaichi tells NHK to review cost of internet distribution plan
Communications minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that she asked NHK to review costs related to its plan to distribute all of its TV programs in real time over the internet. The public broadcaster was asked to submit a report on the matter by Dec. 8. ...
Kaoru Yachigusa, actress in 'Samurai, The Legend of Musashi,' dies
Actress Kaoru Yachigusa, who rose to prominence with her role in Oscar-winning film "Samurai, The Legend of Musashi" and starred in a number of major movies and TV dramas, died last Thursday of pancreatic cancer at a Tokyo hospital, her office said. She was ...
Movie nights once required driving to the local video store to rent, rewind and return the latest blockbuster. Now on-demand video content providers offer countless binge-worthy options at the touch of a finger. But experts say the ease of streaming services comes with a hefty ...
TV ratings hit average 41.6% for Japan-South Africa Rugby World Cup quarterfinal
Television ratings set during Japan's loss against South Africa in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals reached an average of 41.6 percent in eastern Japan, the highest of any match in the current tournament, a rating agency said Monday. Video Research Ltd. said the rating for ...
The creators of "South Park" have issued a mock apology to China after censors scrubbed their popular animation from the Chinese web. The tongue-in-cheek statement, skewering Beijing's demands that Western brands conform to its world view, came with officials apparently annoyed about an episode that ...
Diahann Carroll, 'Julia' star and trailblazer for black women on TV, dies
Diahann Carroll, a versatile singer and stage actress who quietly blazed a trail for black women on American television in the late 1960s by playing a widowed nurse and single mother in "Julia," died Friday at age 84, said her manager, Brian Panella. Carroll, whose ...
NHK president denies it nixed program about Japan Post's insurance practices due to outside pressure
NHK President Ryoichi Ueda denied Thursday that outside complaints caused the cancellation of a program about inappropriate sales practices for Japan Post Insurance Co. products. "It's not the case that independence or freedom of creating programs has been impaired," Ueda told a regular news conference. Regarding ...
Japan Display to extend Ishikawa plant closure on soft iPhone sales as it mulls next-gen OLED plan
Japan Display Inc. said Friday it will extend the closure of its plant in Ishikawa Prefecture due partly to Apple Inc.'s weak iPhone sales as it considers a plan to make new organic light-emitting diode displays there instead. The struggling panel maker said in June ...
Public split over idea of NHK scrambling broadcasts to exclude nonpaying viewers, poll shows
The public is evenly divided over whether TV broadcasts by NHK should be scrambled to make them viewable only by paid viewers, a survey shows. The survey by Jiji Press found that 39.0 percent of respondents agree with the idea, 37.1 percent disagree and 23.9 ...
'Ultraman Buddha' art in Thailand brings complaint to police from hard-line group
Thai Buddhist hard-liners have filed a police complaint against a young female artist over paintings that depict Buddha as the 1960s Japanese superhero Ultraman. The complaint over four paintings, displayed last week at a shopping mall in northeastern Thailand, highlights the emboldenment of ultraconservative Buddhist ...
Yuji Kondo continues to chart own path in broadcast booth
Yuji Kondo is standing in the home dugout at Tokyo Dome with his hands braced on the back of the bench as he listens to a fellow broadcaster tell him about a humorous interaction she had with an NPB player recently while covering a ...
Tokyo's five major private TV networks to trial simultaneous online streaming next year
Private networks are apparently waking up to the reality that their online presence will fade if they do not keep up with the trend of streaming on smartphones.
