TNAG-1989-FCO40-2822-Hong-Kong-Telecommunications-(Amendment)-Ordinance-1989-(No.-1989 — Page 189

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1.2 Japanese media

Japan has a public sector broadcasting company, NHK, and a thriving commercial

sector.

NHK operates three national radio networks (two on mediumwave and one on FM). There are more than 50 commercial stations: the choice available varies from region to region, with the maximum of four. The rate of listening to NHK radio is about equal to that for commercial radio.

There is one domestic shortwave broadcaster, the commercial station Radio Tanpa which broadcasts on shortwave bands from 4 MHz to 9 MHz.

NHK has two national television channels, one of which caters for education and cul- ture. Commercial television is regionalised - there are 99 commercial stations although almost all the programming is produced by five Tokyo-based TV companies. The number of commercial channels receivable ranges from two to six, depending on the area. Com- mercial channels largely offer light entertainment. The rate of viewing commercial TV channels (all combined) is about twice that of the NHK General Network channel.

NHK operates a direct broadcast satellite service on two channels, mainly sports. Until recently, cable television was available only in large hotels, but the network is now spreading rapidly. The cable TV offers sports from satellite, and news information from the US CNN (Cable News Network).

There are five large circulation national newspapers; the most popular is Yomiuri, with a circulation of over 13 million. Over 2,500 magazines are also published. Although the time spent reading newspapers has decreased in the 1980s, there has been little change in that spent on magazines (or books)1.

1.3 The 1988 Survey

The BBC questions were included in a regular multi-client (omnibus) survey carried out by Nippon Research Center Ltd., the Japanese affiliate of the Gallup organisation. Fieldwork took place throughout Japan (except for Okinawa) in May 1988.

1.4 Questions asked

The BBC questionnaire was designed to:

measure the extent of shortwave availability and use in Japan;

assess general media habits;

measure the awareness of and audiences for the BBC and other named foreign broadcasters;

assess knowledge of English and methods of learning English.

1See Footnote 5 Page 1

Japan 1987