The latest national drama

Sun Mar 27 16:23:33 EST 2005

I haven't been following the coverage so closely myself, but I had the 
very strong feeling based on my viewing experience that Fuji is the 
unquestioned home of the Japanese right-wing on broadcast media. Perhaps 
they've even been pulling other network news programming to the right 
with them. Am I right about that? If so, that surely has to figure into 
the semi-hysteria about control of Fuji shifting.

An analogy in the US media landscape might be if Mark Cuban, the owner 
of the Dallas Mavericks who got rich off a digital sports software 
program and enjoys defying the orders of the NBA commissioner, were 
bidding on a hostile takeover of Fox News. That would certainly be a 
headline story here in the US, and justifiably so.
Mark Anderson

stephanie deboer wrote:

>I?ve been amazed at the extent of coverage of this story as well.  To add my own two cents to the conversation, I also feel that the most conspicuous reason for all this coverage is the ?audacious? tone and manner to Livedoor?s attempt this merger.  The idea of this young 31 year old taking on the old establishment at Fuji TV ? and doing it so aggressively ? seems to be what everyone (or at least the news media) seems to be interested in.  As an anecdotal example, for whatever its worth, there was a report today (I forget which TV station) of a survey of Tokyo businesspeople, which found that something like 70% of those surveyed were impressed by and supported (perhaps even envied?) Livedoor?s "entrepreneurial" spirit and actions.  
>
>While I don?t quite understand the entertainment model that Livedoor wants to promote (anyone?), Livedoor?s idea of television?s inevitable trend toward digital/integration with the internet, as a previous response said, isn?t itself very new.  
>Seems to me that television has been promoted through this rhetoric ? as always looking forward to its future digitalization ? from the moment that satellite became a possibility for Japan (and even before).  Which is to say that ?new technology? and ?digital technologies? (with the sense of the ?modern? and ?global? that such terms often seem to imply) has long been the cloak through which television has been promoted in Japan. Look at any NHK (self) promotional history of the 1980s, and you?ll see 1984 described as Japan's ?first/beginning year of new media? (that?s the year that NHK successfully launched its own test satellite for the first time).  Fuji?s TV's 1997 move to its new station site in Odaiba was done in part to pave the way for Fuji?s digital future (through a building that could both physically and imaginatively support its move to digital broadcasting).  
>
>In this way, you might say that television doesn?t disappear or simply become an old media in these case
>s, but is rather a media constantly renewed and reconfigured *through* its promoted links to so-called new media.  This, at least, is how the Fuji TV "establishment" might want to see it.  Would Livedoor really see it any differently?  Even though he?s been reported as touting the ?end of television? in the age of the internet, he later denied this blanket statement as having been reported out of context.   I wonder?
>
>Stephanie
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>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Hammill Matthew <mjh47ronin at hotmail.com>
>Date: Saturday, March 26, 2005 8:14 pm
>Subject: RE: The latest national drama
>
>  
>
>>I think the switch to totally digital television, which will 
>>supposedly be 
>>a reality in 2011, is something that Horiemon is thinking about, 
>>and the 
>>ways in which this type of content can be integrated into the 
>>internet.  
>>His idea that the internet will completely take over the role of 
>>regular TV 
>>seems to not really be very accepted here.   It seems a little 
>>ironic that
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> 
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>>he has purchased Nippon Housou, with radio probably being the most 
>>old 
>>fashioned form of media in many people`s view.  
>>
>>mjh
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>>>From: Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>
>>>Reply-To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
>>>To: KineJapan <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
>>>Subject: The latest national drama
>>>Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:47:59 +0900
>>>
>>>The latest drama that everyone seems to be talking about here is 
>>>      
>>>
>>not 
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>>
>>>the climax of the morning soap Wakaba, but Livedoor's hostile 
>>>take-over bid for Nippon Broadcasting. I'm still trying to figure 
>>>out exactly why this thing is on the front pages day in and day 
>>>out?orning and evening papers.
>>>
>>>It all started a few weeks ago, when the internet startup Livedoor 
>>>made a sneaky move on Nippon Broadcasting with an off-hours trade 
>>>that put it within spitting distance of company control. It soon 
>>>became apparent that the target was actually Fuji TV network, 
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>>>
>>which 
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>>>is majority own
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>>>
>ed by NBS. There has been daily maneuvering by each 
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>>>side that the media follows religiously (I wonder about 
>>>readers/viewers). NBS tried to dilute the Fuji stock by selling 
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>>>
>>some 
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>>>of itself to Fuji, which would have fatally weakened Livedoor's 
>>>share. The courts blocked that, and now NBS has loaned a big chunk 
>>>of stock to Softbank, big investor in broadband and YahooJapan and 
>>>Livedoor's significant competitor.
>>>
>>>So what's the big deal?
>>>
>>>At one level, it's the way the hostility of the takeover became 
>>>personalized in the respective CEOs. The NBS Man is a typical 
>>>      
>>>
>>ojisan 
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>>>executive, with the usual sharp suits, nondescript hair, and ugly 
>>>eye glasses. Livedoor's Horie is a college drop-out and 32 year-
>>>      
>>>
>>old, 
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>>>straight-talking, wunderkind?ead "child." The two have been 
>>>throwing barbs at each other, and the battle is portrayed as Old 
>>>      
>>>
>>vs. 
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>>>New Japan.
>>>
>>>At another level, it seems to be about journalism. Horie, the 
>>>c
>>>      
>>>
>ollege dropout, thinks that in the age of the internet journalism 
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>
>>>is pass? as all you have to do is put the information coming from 
>>>various sources online and grant the people the freedom to form 
>>>their own opinion about it. The press reminds him that journalism 
>>>has a higher goal?art of which is weeding out distortion, 
>>>propaganda, significance, etc.? higher goal deeply connected to a 
>>>responsibility to the citizenry of Japan. The irony of this 
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>>>
>>argument 
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>>>has been pretty enjoyable; Horie's ridiculous anti-intellectualism 
>>>is not so far off the mark when you think about how prone the 
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>>>
>>press 
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>>>is here?veryone knows you get the real news from shukanshi.
>>>
>>>Finally, it seems to be about the future of television. This is 
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>>>
>>the 
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>>>intriguing part of it all. It's the aspect I am most interested 
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>>in, 
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>>>but which is also the worst reported so far. It seems obvious that 
>>>Livedoor is interested in acquiring a television network because 
>>>t
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>>>
>hey see where the internet is going. Now you can watch full-
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>>screen, 
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>>>full motion quicktime movies that look pretty damn good (check out 
>>>the trailers on the Apple site); it doesn't take much imagination 
>>>      
>>>
>>to 
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>>>figure out what's going on in Horie's head. But on the shorter 
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>>term, 
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>>>there has also been some talk about changing programming itself. 
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>>>
>>Not 
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>>>simply sloughing off the news, but revamping the entertainment end 
>>>as well.
>>>
>>>Has anyone been following this? Does anyone have a handle on the 
>>>significance of the take-over, especially the third aspect on my 
>>>list?
>>>
>>>Curiously,
>>>
>>>Markus
>>>      
>>>
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