Measures implemented by NHK and private TV broadcasting companies to control the copying of digital television programs have drawn a flood of complaints from TV users, with some saying they have been deprived of certain editing freedoms.
A customer holds a special B-CAS user identification card at Bic Camera's outlet in Yurakucho, Tokyo.
On April 5, NHK and the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan began airing their programs with a special transmission signal that allows only a single copy of the program to be made.
Because programs that have been copied once cannot be duplicated or edited digitally, editing the programs via a personal computer has become impossible.
In addition, the broadcasters' move has made it necessary for viewers to insert a special user identification card, known as a B-CAS card, into their digital TV sets to watch programs.
These duplication controls are being applied to digital TV programs aired by both digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasters.
In the week after the measure was implemented, NHK and the grouping of private broadcasters received more than 15,000 inquiries and complaints about the scheme.
With the Olympic Games in Athens coming up, mass retailers of home electronic appliances are stepping up their sales pitch for large-screen digital TVs.
"Customers often ask me about 'duplication control' but I have difficulty in helping them understand it," said store manager Yuki Kanno.
Hot-selling flat-screen TVs are priced at 300,000 yen or higher; the main buyers of these models are older people.
"But the duplication control is difficult for elderly people to understand," a sales clerk said.
With digital images or sounds, repeated copying does not cause a deterioration in picture or sound quality.
It is partly for this reason that pirated editions of popular TV dramas have been mass-marketed in Asia and other regions.
The duplication controls have been adopted to protect broadcast copyrights, an NHK official said, adding, "Easy violation of copyright would make movie and music copyright holders reluctant to provide their works and prompt actors and singers to refuse to appear on TV."
The posts and telecommunications ministry plans to terminate analog terrestrial and satellite broadcasting and have companies switch to digital broadcasting completely by 2011.
The Japan Times: May 25, 2004
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