TV Networks Considering Pay-per-view Online

With the future of television advertising revenues in growing doubt, Japanese television broadcasters are looking to Webcasting for their next growth market.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Tuesday that Nippon Television Network Corp., Japan’s largest broadcast network, will begin offering some of its programming for a fee over the Web, beginning in October.

The report said that NTV would release up to 10,000 programs online, including both dramas and variety shows, and would charge 100 yen (90 cents) for a 15-minute program segment. The Nikkei said NTV hoped to attract 10,000 members to the service within a year and reap annual sales of 10 billion yen ($90 million) within three years.

The report sent Nippon TV shares up 3.2 percent Tuesday on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Following the report, however, Nippon TV released a statement saying that it had not finalized the details of the plan. "The numbers given in the report, including broadcasting time and fees, are from one of the simulations we are now examining," it said. "We are looking at several possibilities for the revenue model, specific content and other factors."

Later in the day, rival broadcaster Fuji Television Network Inc. announced its own plans to make its satellite TV programming available online later this month.

Fuji said it would begin offering sports programs and concerts online, for 200 to 500 yen (about $2-$4.50) per program.

Fuji stock, however, rose less than one point.

Two other broadcasters, TV Asahi Corp. and Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc.(TBS), have already begun experimenting with streaming their programming content online, according to a report in The Asahi Shimbun.

Making all this possible was an agreement negotiated by the Japan Business Federation also known as “Keidanren,” in March setting a preliminary rate at which copyright holders (such as broadcast talent, actors and other performers) would be compensated for programming distributed over the Internet, The Asahi reported. To that end, Keidanren announced Thursday that it would be seeking government aid to undergo the messy task of creating an online database that would identify copyright holders for TV programs, movies and videogames.

Also driving the movement toward putting TV content online has been growing fears of an impending decline in TV advertising revenues. A recent survey by Yano Research quoted in Japan Today, suggested that the increasing popularity of DVD players with built-in hard drives is cutting down on the number of people actually watching commercials. It estimated that TV broadcasters will lose 54 billion yen (nearly half a billion dollars) this year due to the effect of digital recorders on advertising rates.