more news from Japan...

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Tue, 29 Mar 1994 10:23:34 +0900
From: Max Morris <mgmorris () flab fujitsu co jp>




Two articles from The Daily Yomiuri, 3/29/94:


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p. 10


Itochu, Time Warner eye 5-firm CATV project


Kyodo News Service
        Leading trading house Itochu Corp. Said Monday it is
considering setting up a nationwide cable television (CATV) network in
a joint venture with four U.S. and Japanese firms.
        Itochu officials said the project envisages creating a CATV
network covering an audience of two million, or about 10 percent of
the estimated 20 million potential CATV viewers in Japan.
        The partners are Japanese electronic giant Toshiba Corp., U.S.
media empire Time Warner Inc., U.S. regional telecommunications firm
US West Inc. and Time Warner Entertainment Japan Inc., in which the
three firms others than US West have stakes, they said.
        Time Warner is the second-biggest operator of CATV networks
in the United States.
        The officials said the plan, which would be the first such
joint project between Japanese and U.S. companies, is only at the
stage of a feasiblity study at the present and details have yet to be
worked out.
        But they said the creation of several stations covering about
200,000 viewers is being considered, estimating the investment per
station at 3 billion yen to 4 billion yen [approx. $28 to $38
million].
        They said Time Warner and US West hope to invest in a Tokyo
CATV station in wich Itochu is the top shareholder -- Chofu Cable TV
-- in view of a Japanese government decision to raise the ceiling of
foreign ownership of Japanese CATV companies to one-third of the total
shares from one-fifth.
        The change was announced in December in line with Prime
Minister Morihgiro Hosokawa's deregulation policy.


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p. 11


Multimedia attracting big players


Yomiuri Shimbun
        Multimedia is attracting attention not only from the
communication industry but also from trading firms and electornic
companies, all of whom see the new technology as one of the key
industries of the 21st century.
        Equipment manufacturers, service companies, and the government
regard multimedia as an industrial frontier, which will help the
nation get out of the recession.
        President Masahi Kojima of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
Corp. declared that his company would play a leading role in the
multimedia industry.  Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa has also showed
interests in the new business.
        It is likely that the Administrative Reform Promotion
Headquaters will propose creating new industries related to
information networks as a centerpiece for deregulation measures now
under discussion.
        In a series of promotional campaigns NTT launched this year,
Kojima announced on Jan. 12 the company's basic plan for the coming
multimedia age.
        According to the basic plan, the company intends to connect
households throughout Japan with an optical fiber network by the year
2010.
        In line with the plan, NTT forged a relationship with General
Magic Inc., a leading U.S. multimedia company.
        Similiar developments are also seen among other
telecommunications companies established after the privatization of
the telephone business in 1985.  Most of the new companies are mainly
involved in offering long-distance telephone services, but they are
now giving consideration to joint research with cable television
companies.
        Leading trading companies, which are always sensitive to new
trends, have lost no time in accessing the two-way CATV business.
        Mistubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., The Tokyo Electric Power Co.
(TEPCO), and Tokyo Corp. reached agreement this month to establish a
multimedia study group.
        By combining Tokyo Telecommunication Network (TTNet) -- an
optical fiber network partly owned by TEPCO -- with Tokyo Cable
Television CATV network, experiments for telephone services and
two-way CATV are scheduled.
        Manufactureers of information network equipment are also
making preparations for the age of multimedia.
        Following NTT, Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. decided on a
capital participation relationship with General Magic.  The move was
apparently in reaction to regrouping of U.S. firms specializing in
multimedia.
        The Posts and Telecommunications Minstry expects the
multimedia market to be worth 123 billion yen ($1.17 trillion)
annually by 2010, with 2.4 million jobs created.
        With the launch of new multimedia ventures, telephone
companies other than NTT and CATV companies expect to have access to
intracity telephone services which have been so far dominated by NTT,
according to industry sources.
        The sources also said that they thus intend to bring real
competition to the electronic communication market.
        NTT's Kojima expects that a series of mergers ovcer the next
ten years will result in a company matching NTT in scale.
        However, Nozomu Toshida of Dentsu Institute for Human Studies
said it was necessary to develop services, which would satisfy users.
Otherwise, he warned, a series of attempts would end in failure.
        Broadcasters also cast doubt.  Isao Tashiro, Manging Director
of Tokyo Broadcasting Co., said that under the Japanese broadcasting
industry's current system, NHK and commercial broadcasteing companies
compete with each other by providing a wide rang of programs.
        He added that this would make it difficult for CATV networks
to spread in the same scale as seen in the United States.
        Actually, the penetration rate for CATV into the Japanese
household is just 24.3 percent, compared to 60 percent in the United
States.  It is also pointed out frequently that the international
trend should be kept in mind when working out deregulation measures.
        For this, it is necessary not only to create a nationwide
optical fiber network, but also to draft laws capable of coping withe
ensuing fusion between communication and broadcasting industries.
        In addition, the establishment of a system for developing
necessary software, keeping production costs low, and protecting
intellectual property, is essential.
        While the technological foundations for digital technology and
optical fiber communications have matured, multimedia has just entered
an experiemental stage.