WHILE Japanese food and fashion have long been recognised overseas, the country’s TV programmes have yet to fully capture the hearts of people abroad.
In an effort to further boost interest in Japan among the Indonesian public through TV, Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. has recently launched a satellite channel called WakuWaku Japan in the country.
The channel is expected to be a shop window for introducing Japan and Japanese TV programmes to the Southeast Asian country as part of the Japanese government’s Cool Japan strategy.
It is extremely difficult for individual TV stations to sell dramas and variety programs overseas due to such factors as the programmes’ high prices.
This creates a cycle wherein people’s interest in Japanese TV programmes will remain low because they have very few opportunities to watch them, allowing South Korea and other rivals to dominate the market.
The newly launched Japanese channel is intended to change the situation. Sky Perfect JSAT intends to raise the profile of Japanese TV programmes by ensuring locals have the opportunity to watch them, with the ultimate goal of having the programmes then aired through local terrestrial broadcasters, according to the company.
The opening of the regular satellite channel is expected to help the firm find out what kind of programmes are popular in the country and to concentrate its efforts to meet that demand.
With a population of more than 240 million, Indonesia has a massive market for TV. The number of households subscribing to pay broadcasting services is expected to top 5 million in three years. WakuWaku Japan will offer its services to about 2 million households via two satellite broadcasting platforms.
While programmes targeting children will be dubbed in Indonesian, other programs will be subtitled in the local language.
Up to half of necessary costs will be covered by the central government’s Subsidy for Localisation & Promotion of Japanese Visual Media (J-LOP) programme. Sky Perfect JSAT will cover the rest of the costs. The company purchases programmes from NHK, private nationwide and regional TV stations, and also BS and CS stations.
Programmes aired on the channel are diverse. Among popular anime and special effects programmes, Space Brothers and Ultraman Cosmos are being aired.
The broadcaster is also airing travel programmes about Hokkaido and Kyoto as well as documentaries that introduce Japan’s state-of-the-art technologies, to cater to Indonesians’ high interest in such programs. Many subscribers to pay broadcasting services are women, who tend to be highly interested in dramas.
To attract female viewers, the channel also broadcasts such popular dramas as Doctor-X and the medical romance series Kumo no Kaidan.
Sky Perfect JSAT is already considering entering other Asian countries. “We’d like to open a station in Myanmar by the end of fiscal 2014. We’d also like to start preparations to open stations in such countries as Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore, wherever it’s possible,” said Akira Tanaka, the company’s director of the board.
—By arrangement with The Washington Post