Genichi Hashimoto, Chairman of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, has said 47 households and one business in Tokyo with unpaid subscription fees ranging from 41,850 yen (US$354) to 126,360 yen (US$1,071) will be pressed for payment through summary courts if they don’t settle their bills by 31 October. “It’s true that people feel it is unfair” because some people pay their fees while others do not, Mr Hashimoto said.
The 48 non-payers, selected at random, have been delinquent for between 30 and 54 months, reports The Japan Times Online. After the deadline, NHK said it will press its claim in summary courts, which will then issue past-due notices to the non-payers. If they ignore the court notice, they face possible seizure of their assets.
Mr Hashimoto said NHK is considering expanding the number of non-payers targeted beyond the 48 in Tokyo. Nationwide, the number of non-payers as of the end of September totalled about 1.12 million, according to NHK. NHK is apparently attempting to make an example out of the 48 in the face of dwindling fee revenues. Its income began falling even faster after a number of scandals involving its employees.
A law governing NHK’s business defines “viewers” as “households and offices with TV sets capable of receiving NHK channels,” and obliges them to pay viewer fees. For colour terrestrial TV service, the subscription fee is 1,345 yen (US$11.40). No punishment for non-payment is stipulated in the law.
In a separate move to bolster the public broadcaster, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry plans to introduce a bill next year requiring all TV viewers to pay for NHK service because there are almost no TV sets that cannot receive NHK channels. The government is expected to wrap up discussions on the issue by next spring and submit a bill to the Diet.
(Source: Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)
