Proposals for realization of a free, fair and transparent information and telecommunications market
--Aiming for structural reform and economic rejuvenation--
| The transmission formats of communications and broadcasting, which have developed independently, are becoming the same because of technology innovations, and sectors that fuse communications and broadcasting are being developed even on the service front. It is necessary to reevaluate the system and its operation so as to not hinder the providing of a large number of services that make use of the fruits of technology innovations. |
Until now, broadcasts have been made using radio waves
to transmit information from one location to the public in
an undetermined number of places (1-to-N), and the public
nature of this has been secured by enacting regulations in
the business aspect, particularly licensing and collective
exclusion, and in the activities aspect, particularly
programming regulations. In contrast to this, in
communications, the privacy of communication and the secrecy
of communication content have been guaranteed in order to
conduct two-way information transmission between specific
parties (1-to-1).
However, in recent years, given the rapid progress in
technology including digital technology, optical
communication technology and satellite communication
technology, and the development of the Internet, the
transmission formats of communications and broadcasting,
which to this point had developed independent of each other,
are becoming similar, and in terms of service, areas where
the two are mutually used are starting to increase, and the
boundaries between the two are becoming increasingly
blurred. That is to say, the conventional concepts of
communications (1-to-1) and broadcasting (1-to-N) are being
destroyed, and it is becoming difficult to distinguish
clearly between communications and broadcasting.
If the conventional regulatory system, particularly
regulations relating to broadcasting, are applied to the new
services that fuse communications and broadcasting, the
possibilities that could be brought by the new technology
will be lost and there is a fear that it will be difficult
for the information communication business to contribute to
the creation of a vibrant economy and employment
opportunities in the 21st century. The current system and
the way that system is employed should be reevaluated so
that private businesses can utilize the results of
technological innovations and can demonstrate creativity,
and so that users can access necessary information in the
necessary form.
| In fields where communications and broadcasting have been fused, the creativity of businesses should be enabled and freedom in principle should be encouraged in order to increase convenience for users. At that time, from the standpoint of securing freedom of expression, the government should not intervene in information content, relying instead on the private sector's self-imposed controls and social responsibilities. |
Scarcity of radio waves
The government to this point has operated under
the assumption that radio wave resources are limited,
and has enacted regulations on broadcasting such as
compliance to broadcasting rules, program council
institution establishment obligations and mass media
collective exclusion rules and the like from the
standpoint of working to achieve public good in the
radio waves that have been allotted. However, even
though these resources are limited, multi-channel
broadcasting has been realized with the development of
digital technology and data compression technology, and
in addition, the capacity of video transmission routes
such as optical fibers and satellite communications is
increasing rapidly, and overall, the scarcity of radio
waves has diminished.
Social influence
Because broadcasts are "wireless communication
transmissions for the purpose of being directly
received by the public", the social influence of this
must be considered, and programming rules relating to
broadcast content, program council institution
establishment obligations and mass media collective
exclusion rules and the like have been enacted through
broadcasting laws. However, in comparison to other
media such as newspapers, magazines, movies, books and
commercial videos that are not subject to government
regulation, it cannot necessarily be demonstrated that
broadcasting has a greater societal influence as a
whole, but ground wave broadcasting and BS broadcasting
offer a diversity of views and news based on the
lifestyle of the citizens, and widely contribute to the
development of culture. In addition, even NHK, which
is the citizen's public broadcasting enterprise,
participates in this field. In this sense, the social
influence of ground wave broadcasting and BS
broadcasting remains strong. On the other hand, it
cannot be said that media fusing the fields of
communications and broadcasting which have appeared in
recent years have an unduly large social influence in
comparison to media such as newspapers, magazines,
books, movies and commercial videos.
Thus, the scarcity of radio waves and the social
influence of broadcasting that have been the basis of
regulating broadcasting cannot approve the necessity of
enacting harsh regulations on other media such as
newspapers, magazines, publications, movies, commercial
videos, etc. which are not government regulated, with the
exception of ground wave broadcasting and BS broadcasting.
In the merged field of communications and broadcasting
where demand is expected to grow in the future, basic
liberalization should be undertaken in order to enable the
creativity of businesses and enhance the convenience of
users. What is important is to prevent harmful influences
to society caused by the flow of information, regardless of
whether the source is communications, broadcasting,
newspapers, magazines, books, movies or commercial videos.
This should be acted on with self-imposed laws in the
private sector and social responsibility as the root
principle, sufficiently taking freedom of expression into
consideration.
Reevaluation of broadcast law targets
Conventionally, that which "broadcasters intend to
be directly received by the public, and which can be
recognized objectively and subjectively to the
broadcaster" was classified as broadcasting, and
everything else was classified as communications.
Because ground wave broadcasting and BS broadcasting
have a very strong influence on society as discussed
earlier, it is appropriate to maintain the conventional
systematic framework for the time being. On the other
hand, if other transmitters of information are placed
under the regulations of broadcast law, omitting
exceptional cases, recognition of consigned broadcast
businesses, establishment of program council
institutions and various reports will become necessary,
and consequently a heavy burden will be placed on
businesses, which will hinder dynamic response to user
needs. As a result, there are concerns that this will
not only nip the creation of new services in the bud
but will also slow progress in merging communications
and broadcasting and will make it impossible for the
citizens of the nation to receive the benefits of
technological innovations in a timely manner.
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in
December 1997 publicly released "Guidelines relating to
classification of communications and broadcasting in
new services in between broadcasting and communications
that utilize communications satellites". Through this,
it has become clear that distribution of, for instance,
sales information to sales-ready homes, or distribution
of classroom instruction videos that preparatory
schools use for students in their own homes are not
treated as broadcasting. This can be considered a step
forward.
However, in order to conduct information
transmissions treated as communications to which the
regulations of the Broadcast Act are not applied, the
business and service content must be explained in
detail to the government on a case-by-case basis, and
such cases must be recognized as communications by the
determination of the appropriate bureau of the
government. It cannot be denied that from the
viewpoint of the public, there are unclear aspects in
the determination criteria such as the strength of the
bonding relationship between the receiver and
transmitter as indicated in the guidelines and the
degree of belonging of the receiver.
With the technological innovations of recent
years, it has become possible to transmit information
targeted at only a specific contracted party using
communications satellites and the Internet. In order
for the public to receive the benefits of this kind of
technological innovation and for
communication/broadcasting fused services to develop,
as a principle it would be best to not treat this as
broadcasting in cases where the receiver does not
receive the service without entering a contract of his
own free will, and in cases where the content is made
secret using encoding technology or the like and is
indecipherable except to a specified receiver. In
particular, for the time being a negative list should
be made along with the increase in types of services
not treated as broadcasting, such as clarifying in the
near future that information transmission targeted at
the personal homes of parties meeting specific
qualifications as determined by law is not treated as
broadcasting. As far as content is concerned, from the
standpoint of emphasizing to the utmost the freedom of
expression of the public, this should be treated with
the social responsibility and self-regulation of the
public as the underlying principle, without government
intervention, relying on the principle of self-government and the freedom of contracting companies.
Digitalization of ground wave broadcasting and BS
broadcasting offers huge benefits to the public, such
as effective utilization of frequencies, links with
computers, improved image quality and multiple
channels, and hence this should be positively
undertaken. When this occurs, it is necessary to hold
discussions in an open forum in order to obtain a
public agreement relating to the division of
responsibilities between the private and public sectors
and the state of the systematic framework.
Reevaluation of framework relating to data transmission routes
As facilities for communications and broadcasting
come to be used in common between the two fields with
the development of transmission technology, it will
become possible to use the same facilities for
communication services and for broadcasting services,
but in providing both communication and broadcasting
services under the current systematic framework, even
with the same facilities it is necessary to acquire a
business license, to explain procedures of business
operation to the appropriate government bureau and to
receive approval, all of which places a tremendous
burden on businesses.
The information transmission routes of optical
fiber circuit facilities and communication satellites
should treated without being classified into
communication-use and broadcasting-use in order to
utilize these qualitatively and quantitatively as
facilities for both communications and broadcasting.
In addition, the allotment of frequencies is currently
such that the purpose of such must be classified as
broadcasting or communications, but consideration
should be given to utilizing a frequency allotment
method wherein the purpose is not restricted to either
broadcasting or communications, so that business to
which these are allotted can undertake more efficient
utilization of the frequencies and respond dynamically
to the needs of users on the basis of the management
decisions of the business itself. Furthermore, it is
necessary to make it so that communication businesses
and broadcasting businesses can mutually participate in
and utilize existing transmission routes while taking
into consideration fair competition conditions.
State of framework regarding content
On the business side, it is important to create
content that meets the needs of information users in
order to develop services that merge and mix
communications and broadcasting. To this end, it is
necessary for content creators independently to make
efforts at improving the environment for creation, such
as nurturing human resources and preparing facilities.
In addition, it is desirable to prepare a copyright
treatment structure so as to protect the rights of
creators appropriately and easily in order to
effectively utilize and promote distribution of
existing content.
Furthermore, for outside consignment of content
creation, it is important that contracts be entered
into which protect the interests and suitable income of
receivers through fair trade giving emphasis to anti-
trust concepts.
It is necessary to treat unlawful content as the
target of criminal law strictly, the same as is the
case with other media. On the other hand, although
harmful content is not of itself criminal, through the
Internet it has become possible to easily transmit data
anonymously to a large number of unspecified people, so
some sort of measures regarding this are necessary. In
this case, there are concerns that introducing new
regulations relating to data transmission will
compromise the freedom of expression of citizens, so it
is necessary to take adequate precautions in that
regard. Even in broadcasting, it is difficult for
program council institutions mandated by broadcast law
to sufficiently review all programming in advance, so
fundamentally the reality is that programming standards
such as guaranteeing political neutrality and obeying
public decency are protected by self-regulation and the
good citizenship of program compilers and content
creators.
What is important is to make it so that receivers
do not receive unnecessary content while at the same
time preserving the freedom of expression of citizens.
In this sense, for the time being in the field that
fuses communications and broadcasting it is necessary
on the transmitter's side to promote social
responsibility and self-government and to work at
commercializing, introducing and promulgating filter
software and chips, and on the receiver's side it is
necessary to create ways to subjectively select content
and ways to reject the reception of unnecessary content.