This bodes well for us

[Lori Morimoto]

At Fuji TV, for now, it looks like they weed you out at the registration 
point; unless you have a Japanese address, you're pretty much prohibited 
from proceeding past the registration point (I don't know what would 
happen if you used a fake address).  If you try to register through 
So-net, they state explicitly that they only allow kokunai viewing; the 
Showtime gateway, however, doesn't seem to state it in so many words - 
they just make no allowance for a foreign address on their registration 
page.

You see similar restrictions on web-based broadcasts of, for example, 
BBC programming; however, I think in those cases the programming is 
slated for broadcast on BBC's overseas outlets (BBC America, for 
example).  In the case of the United States, except for rebroadcasts on 
TV Japan or AZN TV, there are few outlets for Fuji TV programming, and 
it's hard to see how allowing overseas viewing would interfere with 
'regular' broadcasts; the situation would probably be more complicated 
in the case of someplace like Taiwan.

Lori Morimoto

Aaron Gerow wrote:
> This has been in the grapevine for a while, but I am still suspicious 
> about how helpful this will be. The Japanese broadcasters are 
> notoriously bad about getting their content abroad. We'll see about 
> NHK, but the Fuji TV service, for instance, demands that you register 
> at a set number of Japanese contents providers and see the content 
> through those providers. (You don't just go to Fuji TV on the web and 
> click on the show you want to watch.) I haven't tried to register at 
> one of those places, but I wonder if that will be used to weed out 
> foreign viewers. We shall see.
>
> Aaron
>
> On Mar 27, 2008, at 2:01 AM, Mark Nornes wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> News that should warm the hearts of researchers and fans alike: both 
>> Fuji and NHK are making new moves into internet distribution. Fuji 
>> will be offering 30 programs (a combo of free, pay per view, and 
>> monthly fees), and this starts on April 1.
>>
>> NHK will be doing something similar in December with 20 shows, but it 
>> will also include more than a thousand older shows as well. (They are 
>> clearly moving towards a full scale opening of their archives 
>> sometime in the future, as is clear if you rummage around in their 
>> website for long enough).
>>
>> Mark Schilling at Variety has the straight dope:
>>
>> http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982967.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1
>> http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982973.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1
>>
>> Markus
>