Ministry to ask NHK to slash subscription fees by 20%
The communications ministry will ask Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) to reduce its subscription fees by about 20 percent from fiscal 2008 to gain public understanding over making payments legally mandatory, officials said Thursday.
NHK President Genichi Hashimoto said Thursday he opposed an early discount.
"While it might be possible to think about a fee cut when there is a fairer sharing of the burden through a major reduction in delinquent subscribers, such a cut cannot be implemented immediately," he said.
A proposal by the public broadcaster is needed for the Diet's approval to actually carry out the procedures to lower the fees.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications plans to submit a bill to revise the Broadcast Law to the regular Diet session to convene later this month to make payments of the subscription fees legally mandatory.
Plans to revise the law came after a huge boycott of subscription fee payments amid public anger over a series of embezzlement and other scandals involving NHK employees. The payment rate has dropped from around 80 percent to 70 percent.
Government officials shared a view that NHK could further anger the public with the compulsory viewer fees, so they came up with the price-cutting plan for color terrestrial subscription contracts, sources said.
When paying directly to NHK fee collectors, the current monthly rate is 1,395 yen.
With the legal revisions, the ministry estimates that the payment rate could be improved to 80 to 85 percent in five years. NHK could then expect an increase of 75 billion yen to 120 billion yen in annual revenue.
With that increase in mind, the ministry decided to ask NHK to reduce the fees by about 20 percent.
But if the subscription payment becomes mandatory at a reduced rate, the increase in payments might not cover the losses stemming from the reduced fees in the initial stage. That would force NHK to make further efforts to cut costs.(IHT/Asahi: January 12,2007)
Q1. Do you like watching NHK's TV programs or listening to the radio ones? What kind of the programs do you like?
NHKのテレビやラジオを視聴するのは好きですか?どんな番組が好きですか?
Q2. Do you agree with the compulsory viewer fees? Why or why not?
NHK受信料の支払い義務化に賛成ですか?なぜですか?
Q3. What kind of programs do you want to ask NHK to produce?
どんな番組をNHKに作ってもらいたいですか?
Q4. What kind of programs do you want to ask commercial broadcasters to produce?
どんな番組を民放に作ってもらいたいですか?
Q5. What's the most memorable TV program you've ever watched?