OpenSpectrum Japan

3.9G Bands Are Going to Be Allocated with Command and Control

2009-02-08T18:08:00.003+09:00

Japanese government is going to allocate the "3.9G mobile" licenses of 1.5 GHz band to four incumbents with command and control.

They divide 45 MHz to four bands, 10MHz*3 + 15MHz, because there are four incumbents in Japan, NTT docomo, KDDI, SoftBank, and e-Mobile. Mobile terminal manufacturers are concerned because the performance of Long-Term Evolution, the technology which is likely to be the standard of 3.9G, is maximized when it is used in 20 MHz. Consumers are also concerned because the four bands would be allocated to four incumbents for free even without beauty contests.

Once the MIC, the counterpart of the FCC, argued that there should be two or three operators in such a narrow area. But it changed mind suddenly. It's a shame that the MIC is still sticking to "spectrum socialism" that most OECD countries abandoned ten years ago.

They seek public comments. You can comment.

Werbach Was Named as the FCC Transition Team

2008-11-15T11:46:00.004+09:00

Obama named Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach to lead the FCC transition team with the responsibility of advising the incoming administration on policy.

Congratulations!

FCC to Vote on White Spaces

2008-10-21T16:11:00.004+09:00

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said OK to the white space, and the FCC will vote on November 4, according to Google. Many people guess the vote will be positive.

It's a good news for Japan because Japanese bureaucrats do whatever American counterpart did.

Open Spectrum Auctions

2008-10-20T12:04:00.007+09:00

I proposed the Open Spectrum Auction in OpenSpectrum mailing list:

The idea is simple: the government mandate winners of auctions to open the spectrum for every MVNO with pre-determined (cheap) prices and open the terminals for every manufacturers in the world.

It would lessen the profit so that winning prices will be cheaper. I think it would be a middle ground between commons and property parties.

David P. Reed, a father of the Internet, commented:

It's an interesting proposal, but I don't quite get the technological implementation you have in mind. In particular, an MVNO is a communications service that uses a licensee's infrastructure, paying for that use a "marked up" price, and the licensee still retains the right to allow or block terminals based on any criteria they can think of.

Did you have in mind that anyone can be an MVNO without any discrimination? That would require a system that provided an MVNO interface (API or gateway) that merely took money in exchange for service, but was completely open.

In any case, the thing that worries me here is that this does nothing to facilitate innovation in actual radio technologies, since the incumbent licensee has complete control over the technology used. In that sense, it is the same as "analog TV" - the incumbent has no incentive to do a better system, and now has many, many customers (MVNOs) that will be supporting the lack of innovation.

I replied:

Thank you for a nice comment. It's true that MVNO can't change the physical layer, so the innovation would be limited. However, pushed by recent financial turmoil, Japanese politicians are hungry for money. And the MoF urges the MIC to make money themselves.

So this is a good chance to change the command-and-control framework of Japanese policy. And we can leapfrog the U.S. by exploiting this chance, because the incumbents aren't so powerful in the U.S. Google's proposal for 700-MHz auction is a good starting point:
Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;
Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;
Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms;
Open networks: third parties (like Internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.
Economically, it's legitimate for the government to mandate pro-competitive conditions for bidders in advance. For example, API should support IP and be opened with GPL to make physical layer irrelevant. And the tariff should be determined in advance so that no "markup" can be gained by resale. As it will make bidding price cheaper, operators will welcome it because they are afraid of the winner's curse.

I wrote such idea in my old article "The Spectrum as Commons".

Japanese Government Considers Spectrum Auctions

2008-10-18T12:13:00.004+09:00

Japanese government is considering spectrum auctions for UHF and satellite bands, an official said. In 2011, when the analog broadcasting is expected to stop, nearly 100 MHz in UHF will be opened, but many would-be operators rushed to the band so that beauty contests are hard to hold.

On the other hand, the MIC is asking 200 billion yen for the transition to DTV in the budget that will be debated in the next Diet. Since Japan's public deficit is the worst in the OECD countries, the Ministry of Finance is reluctant to subsidize TV stations with public money.

Auctions can solve both problems. It's a self-selection mechanism in which the operators who use the spectrum most efficiently will win the bid, as many economists have researched extensively. It's purpose is to make the spectrum market competitive, but it enables the government to make huge money. In Japan, Prof. Hajime Oniki of Osaka Gakuin University estimated the value of spectrum 13 billion yen per MHz. There are many vacant bands:

470-710MHz: 200MHz is the white space or evacuated by SFN
710-770MHz: allocated to mobile operators
770-806MHz: vacant

Bottomline: more than 300MHz can be opened. If it's run most efficiently, the spectrum auction can raise enormous windfall revenues more than 3 trillion yen (30 billion dollars) for the government.

New entrants get spectrum, the government receive money, and broadcasters can be subsidized by the auction fee for their transition costs. Nobody will lose. Why don't they do it?

"Dubbing Ten" Is Illegal

2008-10-16T11:57:00.006+09:00

As reported in this blog, B-CAS is dead. Larry Lessig welcomed it. However, the MIC considers to prolong the DRM named "Dubbing Ten" for free broadcasting. This is strange because the Broadcast Law forbids NHK from such regulation:

Article 9(11): NHK shall not take any action, whatever the pretext may be, to regulate or interfere with the business of the manufacturers of, dealers in or repairers of radio devices, such as to certify broadcast radio receiving devices or vacuum tubes or component parts thereof, or to designate authorized repairers of broadcast radio receivers.

As I pointed out, such DRM for free broadcasting is the non-tariff barrier to exclude foreign manufacturers such as Vizio and Samsung - larger makers than Sony in American market. The USTR is watching the MIC's conclusion.

Broadcasters Are Wasting 36 MHz

2008-10-10T00:51:00.007+09:00

In the hearing held at the MIC last month, Japanese National Broadcasting Association admitted "it is possible to consider the new entry" to 770-806 MHz band. We found that the band is used only for marathon broadcasting, 10-20 hours per month.

Since the band is already white, it can be used as a white space. Japan can be ahead of the U.S., where Google is struggling with ILECs.

Two Good News about Copyright in Japan

2008-10-04T02:54:00.003+09:00

Japanese government seems to be changing its industry-oriented policy toward consumers.

Last week the Council of Information and Communication decided to scrap the B-CAS, the notorious conditional access system for free broadcasting (link in Japanese). Due to this change, "Dubbing Ten", which forbids copying the programs of digital broadcasting more than ten times, would be abolished, because it is enforced by the encryption of B-CAS. It might be the result of accusation by many people (including me) on the Web that B-CAS is violating the Anti-Monopoly Act.

On Sep. 18, the Council of Culture gave up the extension of copyright from 50 years after the death of the author to 70 years (link in Japanese). Two years ago, the Council proposed the extension to follow the "global standard", but many people on the Web objected against the legislation. A Council member confessed that he didn't imagine such strong objection from overwhelming majority on the Web.

These might be signals that the Web is becoming the "Fifth Estate" to compete against mass media. In Japan, since broadcasting stations are tied with major newspapers, they are so strong that B-CAS nor copyright extension has scarcely been reported in media. However, this taboo is strongly attacked by many blogs and bulletin boards. They organized NPO and accused B-CAS to Fair Trade Commission.

As a result, the tide is changing, but it's only a beginning. We should unite to open the spectrum and abolish the monopoly of broadcasters.

From Broadcasting to the Network Age

2008-09-12T09:00:00.002+09:00

Kevin Werbach's speech at ICPF symposium on July 25 in Tokyo.

"Dubbing Ten" Is Dead

2008-08-24T16:27:00.004+09:00

As I reported in a previous entry, B-CAS encryption system was broken with various technologies. The easiest way was found by a code breaker Friio, which sends the encryption key via the Internet. In the earlier version, Friio box needed a B-CAS card, but now users can download the encryption key by which they can copy MPEG2-TS indefinitely.

Thus "Dubbing Ten", new copy control system that allows users to make only 10 copies but prohibits editing which was introduced last month, is dead, too. TV stations are lobbying to enforce Dubbing Ten by legislation, but few bureaucrats agree to make a new obstacle for the DTV transition until 2011.

In fact Friio didn't break the encryption code but only dug the bug in the protocol of B-CAS. The bug was made because ARIB added copy protection to the encryption. Usually they are integrated as in the CSS of DVD, but ARIB tried to "enforce" the copy-control flag with encryption. It's nonsense because, after decryption, B-CAS generates the raw flag in the video stream that can be ignored easily.

Anyway Japanese government will give up B-CAS and Dubbing Ten. It's their own fault that implemented stupid CAS to free broadcasting.

"Free" Doesn't Mean "Zero Price" in Japanese

2008-08-09T18:00:00.007+09:00

Larry Lessig showed a funny poster at the iCommons Summit in Sapporo, Japan. Richard Stallman said that software should be free as in "free speech" not in "free beer". However, "jiyuu" (free) doesn't mean "zero price" in Japanese, so the message "free beer for 500 yen" makes sense if it's translated into Japanese.

When I invited Stallman to our conference in Japan a few years ago, he said that "free" is a confusing English word and "jiyuu" in Japanese is accurate, so we'd better call it "jiyuu software".

Copy Protection of B-CAS Was Broken

2008-08-06T08:57:00.003+09:00

SK Net, a manufacturer of the DTV tuner unit "MonsterTV HDUS" for computer, published a news release that they would stop shipping HDUS "because its software could be changed". It's strange because no company should be liable for other party's change of its products.

An industry insider says that B-CAS KK, which issues B-CAS cards, summoned SK and warned that B-CAS cards would not be issued to SK if they ship HDUS, because some people altered the software (device drivers) of the devices so as to copy the TV picture indefinitely, i.e., they broke the "copy-once" protection.

In fact, since Friio violated the taboo, many companies entered into this industry so that most DTV tuners, boards and even TV could be made copy-free by drivers. Such drivers are sold in Akihabara, says the insider. In other words, the copy protection of B-CAS was technically disabled.

However, as SK didn't break the copy protection, B-CAS KK's penalty might be a violation of the Anti-monopoly Law that prohibits the restriction of trades without any legal ground. Even worse, Dell uses SK's device with OEM, because Dell wasn't authorized to produce B-CAS devices. As the USTR is watching B-CAS, this could be an agenda of the Japan-US meeting about trade.

Japanese Broadcasters Refuse the White Spaces

2008-07-26T15:23:00.004+09:00

We held the ICPF Symposium yesterday in Tokyo. Kevin Werbach made a good presentation about the American experience of DTV transition. He emphasized that the problem is not DTV but opening up the wasted spectrum for the New Network Age when various types of wireless media compete.

However, after his presentation, Chiharu Kamise, the Technical Director of Fuji TV, surprised us saying "There will be very few white spaces in Japan. While there are only 1,500 stations in the U.S., there will be as many as 13,000 DTV stations in Japan". He might have mistaken the white spaces as the geographical spaces not covered by airwaves.

I pointed out the misunderstanding, but Kamise insisted that broadcasters would not allow entrants to white spaces because mobile terminals would interfere with the broadcasting signals. It's the same logic as American broadcasters protect their vested interests. As Werbach said, the interference is not a technical term but a political slogan.

Good news is that METI submitted a public comment (in Japanese) to the MIC that encourages them to consider the utilization of white spaces. It's usual in the U.S. for a Department to criticize another's policy, but it's rare in Japan. It's a long way to the New Network Age in Japan, but it's changing slow and steady.

DTV: It's Not About TV!

2008-07-18T07:57:00.012+09:00

Next Friday we are going to have a symposium. This is a slide of the presentation by Kevin Werbach, a keynote speaker.

It's not about TV, but opening up the new frontier of spectrum in which Google, Microsoft, Dell, Motorola, HP, and other entrants are going to develop innovations.

Moreover, the spectrum would be a huge "hidden asset" that would amount to more than 2 trillion yen (20 billion dollars). Please e-mail to info@icpf.jp.

B-CAS Inc. Is Illegal

2008-07-10T00:25:00.003+09:00

The Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily, reported that B-CAS Inc., a joint venture of major Japanese broadcasters that distributes the B-CAS cards. According to the report, B-CAS Inc. has never disclosed their P/L and B/S since it was established in 2000. It's illegal and could be punished.

B-CAS Inc. admitted their misconduct and disclosed the financial statements for the first time. It's strange that the cost of the card - very simple IC card that contains only a cypher key - is sold to electronic manufacturers with $6 and its cost is more than $5 apiece. Experts say the card costs around $1 when they are produced more than 44 million pieces. The cards might be bought at higher prices from their shareholder's subsidiary to transfer the profit - as is often the case in Japan.

The report is striking because the Asahi Shimbun is the parent company of TV Asahi, a shareholder of B-CAS Inc. It might be the beginning of demise of B-CAS, which the government wants to abolish for the DTV transition. Japanese FTC is also interested in this company, which is a great barrier of entry by domestic and foreign companies.

ICPF Symposium: The Challenge of Digital TV Transition 2011

2008-07-03T11:43:00.007+09:00

The analog broadcasting in Japan is planned to stop until July 24, 2011. However, there are almost 100 million analog TVs in Japan now. Can they be all changed to digital in three years? How would it be financed? This is a very difficult challenge, but it would be a great opportunity to open the precious UHF band to new entrants, too. Our Information and Communication Policy Forum (ICPF) is going to have a symposium to discuss this problem.

Date: July 25, 2008
Place: Kudan Kaikan, Tokyo (map)

Program

13:00 Registration

13:30 Keynote Speech 1: Toranosuke Katayama (ex-Minister of MIC)
“The Strategy of Japanese Government for the Digital Transition”

13:50 Keynote Speech 2: Kevin Werbach (University of Pennsylvania)
"From Broadcasting to the Network Age: Lessons from the Digital TV Transition in the United States"

15:10 Discussion: “How Japanese Government Should Overcome the Transition”

Hajime Oniki (Osaka Gakuin University)
Hideki Maekawa (TBS Research Institute)
Nobuyoshi Kodera (IT journalist)
Hiroshi Yoshida (Chief of Terrestrial Broadcasting Division, MIC)
Moderator: Hajime Yamada (Toyo University)

17:00 Closing

Capacity: 100 people
Fee: 5000 yen
Registration: E-mail to info@icpf.jp

White Spaces in Japan

2008-06-26T00:58:00.004+09:00

Hajime Yamada and I posted a public comment to the MIC in Japan that the 770-806 MHz band for field pickup (FPU) is wasted. Since most FPUs are now using 5.8GHz band and higher, 800 MHz band is used only for marathon broadcasting, less than twenty times per year.

So we commented that the MIC should disclose the data of usage of 800 MHz band so as to open the unused spectrum for secondary uses. It's much easier than American white spaces, because the programs of marathon are planned yearly. The MIC replied that it is difficult to open the band without disclosing the data.

They are reluctant to disclose the data because the usage rate would be less than 1/1,000,000,000. However, if the MIC auctioned the wasted spectrum, they could get $4.5 billion. It's their good chance to compensate the costly DTV transition.

Japan's Adventure into DTV

2008-06-11T11:20:00.006+09:00

Japan's MIC (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) admitted that it would not be possible to migrate all the analog TV to digital until July 2011, the deadline to stop the analog broadcasting. The Minister, Mr. Masuda, said that the MIC would request the budget more than 200 billion yen ($20 billion) to distribute digital tuners to a million households on welfare and other low-income families.

The Ministry of Finance would not easily permit such ad hoc subsidy to TV audience. Moreover, it would hardly help the problem because there are more than 100 million analog TVs in Japan now. If most of these TVs are not supported, as much as 50 million TVs might be scrapped as huge buildup of wastes. However, if MIC want to subsidize all the household as the FCC did, it would cost more than $50 billion.

Last month the Cabinet of the Prime Minister proposed the Action Plan for the Digital Transition. But the biggest problem is how to finance the huge budget. As the MIC didn't auctioned spectrum, they have little budget. So I proposed the "White Space Auction" to open the unused spectrum for new entrants.

We are going to have a symposium on July 25, the day three years before the "black out" of analog broadcasting. This would be a chance for the great transition from legacy TV to the new world of broadband Web.

Sweden's "B-CAS" Is Admitted Illegal

2008-06-10T09:05:00.002+09:00

The European Commission said it has withdrawn its legal case against Sweden at the EU's highest court after the Scandinavian country amended its laws to abolish a licensing system that gave the partly state-owned company Boxer the exclusive right to handle certain digital terrestrial broadcasting services.

The commission referred Sweden to the European Court of Justice in October 2006. Under EU laws from 2002, member states had to abolish all exclusive rights for the provision of electronic communications services, including the encryption of broadcasting programmes, by July 2003.

B-CAS, the Great Non-Tariff Barrier

2008-05-23T19:18:00.016+09:00

There are many pay-TVs that adopt the CAS (conditional access system) that encrypts broadcasting signals and decrypts them with STB (set-top boxes). But it is only Japanese broadcasters that mandate B-CAS (Broadcasting Satellite CAS) for every audience of terrestrial free broadcasting.

Why? They insist that it is necessary for copy protection called copy-once, which allows consumers to copy the content only once. However, in fact, the MPEG-2 signals are copied to decode them, so it is actually copy-never, outraged an Intel executive.

Technically B-CAS has nothing to do with copy protection. Copy-once is only a flag in the signal that is not encrypted. In fact Friio, a Taiwan STB, ignores copy-once flag and enables copying indefinitely. So B-CAS does nothing but blocking foreign companies and generating monopoly profit for B-CAS KK, a private company that "certificates" TV sets.

B-CAS is a great non-tariff barrier (NTB) because foreign companies should be certificated by B-CAS KK with no legal ground. The procedure of certification is very complex and ambiguous: it took five years for a Japanese company, Pixela, to get the authorization to make capture boards using B-CAS.

As a result, no foreign companies sell digital TVs in Japan, where more than 8 million digital TVs are sold per year. Samsung, the largest TV maker in the world, exited from Japan because they couldn't get the certification. Vizio, the American top TV manufacturer, LG, Phillips, and other large foreign makers can't get the certification. Dell and HP sell PCs with DTV tuner with OEM from Japanese companies. Microsoft has been applying certification for more than two years.

In the 1980's, the US Trade Representative demanded Japanese government to open the market. But recently the USTR has little attention to Japanese market. As a result, DTVs are so expensive and inconvenient that Japanese consumers are reluctant to buy them. In 2007, the sales of DVD recorder dropped 40% from 2006.

However, according to Japanese Radio Law, Japanese TV stations must stop analog broadcasting in VHF band until July 2011. As it is estimated that there are more than 80 million analog TVs in Japan now, there would remain at least 50 million TVs in July 2011. Even the FCC had to put off the deadline of the "blackout" in 2006.

So B-CAS is not only NTB that violates WTO free trade agreements, but the barrier for the digital transition. If the analog broadcasting couldn't be stopped, the plan to open the VHF band to new entrants such as Qualcomm, as I wrote in my blog entry, would be stalled. Japanese government should clear the roadblock as soon as possible.

Update: The Cabinet Secretariat released the Action Plan for the Digital Transition on Friday (in Japanese). B-CAS is one of the biggest obstacles for the transition.

Google talks about 700MHz

2008-04-07T09:28:00.000+09:00

Rick Whitt, Google's Washington Office Chief, talks about 700MHz auction in their blog:

Google's top priority heading into the auction was to make sure that bidding on the so-called "C Block" reached the $4.6 billion reserve price that would trigger the important "open applications" and "open handsets" license conditions. We were also prepared to gain the nationwide C Block licenses at a price somewhat higher than the reserve price; in fact, for many days during the early course of the auction, we were the high bidder. But it was clear, then and now, that Verizon Wireless ultimately was motivated to bid higher (and had far more financial incentive to gain the licenses).

The end of the auction certainly doesn't mark the end of our efforts toward greater wireless choice and innovation. We will weigh in at the FCC as it sets implementation rules for the C Block, and determines how to move forward with a D Block re-auction. Android is already off to a successful start, and we are likely to see handsets later this year based on the Android platform. We will continue advocating for the FCC to open up the vacant "white spaces" in the TV spectrum band for mobile broadband uses. And as more policymakers and regulators around the world evaluate their own spectrum policies, we'll continue pushing to help make the wireless world look much more like the open platform of the Internet.

Google's Letter to the FCC

2008-03-29T23:19:00.005+09:00

The open letter by Rick Whitt of Google is published on the FCC's website. Excerpts:

As Google has pointed out previously, the vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused, or else is grossly underutilized. Our nation typically uses only about five percent of one of our most precious resources.

Coupled with the “Android” open source platform for mobile consumer devices, TV white spaces can provide uniquely low-cost mobile broadband coverage for all Americans. As announced last fall, over thirty other companies are working with Google through the Open Handset Alliance to develop a fully open source software stack, including the operating system, middleware, and user applications.

There are many ways to safely and reliably protect DTVs and wireless microphones, not all of which require spectrum sensing. Last fall, Motorola submitted a proposal in this proceeding that relies on a combination of geo-location (to protect broadcast TV) and beacons (to protect wireless microphones). Google believes both concepts, along with a “safe harbor” approach, should be seriously considered for incorporation into the FCC’s service requirements for the spectrum.

In short, FCC rules should specify only what is allowed, not how that result is to be achieved, or by whom. Much like the Internet itself, the agency’s specifications should as much as possible enable “innovation without permission".

It's remarkable that Google proposed more "conservative" approach than spectrum sensing, which switches frequency by geo-location databases.

A Proposal of "White Space Auction"

2008-03-28T12:45:00.007+09:00

I wrote an article with Lixin Ye of Ohio State University that proposed reverse auctions that enable the government to buy the spectrum from incumbents. This mechanism could be applied to UHF band in Japan.

Japanese government (MIC) plans to stop the analog broadcasting in July 2011. But there are 130 million TVs in Japan, of which only 30 millions have been switched to "DTV-ready". As 10 million DTVs are sold per year, at least 50 million analog TVs would remain in 2011. It would be very dangerous politically for the MIC to scrap the 50 million TVs that would outrage vast numbers of audience.

In the United States, the FCC had to put off the deadline in 2006. And if it stops the analog broadcasting in 2009, there would remain approximately 6 million people whose TVs black out, because more than 80 per cent of audience watch cable TVs, according to NY Times. If the FCC issues $80 coupons for all of them, it would cost $480 million. However, it can be easily compensated by the auction fee of 100 MHz for $19.6 billion, according to WSJ.

The situation is worse in Japan, because the MIC refused to adopt spectrum auctions. If the MIC issue $80 coupons for 50 million TVs, it would cost $4 billion. The MIC is struggling to compensate it with the "spectrum usage fee" mainly paid by mobile operators. But the fee amounts to only $500 million per year, and mobile operators are strongly opposing such unfair income transfer from mobile users to TV stations.

So our mechanism can be applied to the white spaces. The MIC can auction the cost of converters to the entrant for white spaces. It isn't a spectrum auction but an usual auction of state-owned assets such as real estates. If entrants buy at 150 MHz for $4 billion, the cost per MHz will be $26.6 million, much cheaper than the cost of 700 MHz auction, $196 million/MHz.

Indeed it's "bribing" TV stations who should pay the cost of transition, but it would be more efficient than the simultaneous broadcasting that occupies both digital and analog bands, as the Coase Theorem suggests. Of course the TV stations that would be subsidized by entrants should open the white spaces as fast as possible. And they should pay other costs such as setting up antennas.

This is a tentative proposal, but it would be better for consumers, entrants, and incumbents than the wasteful simultaneous broadcasting.

The Powers That Be

2008-03-27T09:28:00.039+09:00

Google sent a letter to the FCC to open the white spaces in the UHF band. Microsoft is cooperating with Google in fighting with the FCC. Last year the FCC tested their cognitive radio technology and concluded that interference could not be avoided, but Bill Gates insists that it is possible to allocate the white spaces to Wi-Fi and other broadband radio technologies.

National Association of Broadcasting (NAB) quickly released a statement with 70 politicians that nobody can eliminate the interference completely when the white spaces are used by users without licenses. It's true nobody can guarantee something never happens. Even NAB can't guarantee that David Rehr, the President of NAB, will never be killed in a traffic accident. If so, do they demand the government to enforce everybody not to drive until the traffic accident is completely eliminated?

Japanese broadcasters also succeeded in blocking their competitors with their strong political power. There are few Multiple Systems Operators (MSO) in Japan because the licenses of cable operators were limited in a city. The transponders of broadcasting satellites were filled up by the subsidiaries of broadcasters. They insists that IP broadcasting is not broadcasting because it distributes the program on demand in the last one mile.

Since the "reporter's clubs" in the government bureaus are monopolized by newspapers and TVs that control the information of the government, media can cover up the "inconvenient truth" for them. Even worth, most TV stations' largest shareholders are newspapers, so newspapers don't criticize TVs and vice versa.

In 2006, when the Fair Trade Commission tried to remove the exception of Anti-Trust Act that enables newspapers to set retail prices by collusion, all newspapers in Japan insisted that FTC was destroying katsuji bunka (culture of movable type) and many politicians including Sanae Takaichi, a notorious fighter against the Internet who is trying to enact Communication Decency Act in Japan.

So broadcasters in Japan collude to refuse the Internet. When Livedoor, an Internet startup, tried to buy a radio station in 2005, broadcasters argued against the bid, and Takafumi Horie, the president of Livedoor, was arrested in charge of "creative accounting" at last.

All incumbent Japanese broadcasters deploy BS Conditional Access System (B-CAS) that encrypts airwaves and decrypts them with a card in the digital TV set. It's strange because the DTV is free broadcasting. Why do they encrypt the spectrum to be broadcast free? They say it implements Digital Rights Management (DRM) that permits audience to copy programs only once.

But there is no free broadcasting that restricts copying in other countries. In the United States, broadcast flag was judged illegal. In Japan, the MIC (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication) didn't enforce the DRM, but all TV stations and TV manufacturers made a cartel to implement B-CAS, which has no legal ground.

It's funny that the president of B-CAS company is an amakudari (descendant from the parent company) from NHK, a pubic broadcasting station. NHK has been involved in serial scandals recently, but it insists that it should not be privatized. Why does NHK deploy B-CAS, a private CAS that encrypts their programs? NHK answers that it doesn't encrypt the emergency news because they are public. Does it mean the other NHK programs aren't public? It would violate the Broadcasting Act that prohibits NHK to exclude anybody from watching it.

So B-CAS might be the violation of Anti-Trust Act and the Broadcasting Act, but no media accuse it because they are affiliates of TV stations. There is no freedom of speech in Japanese media. They are often called the Fourth Estate, but in Japan they are The Powers That Be, as David Halberstam said.

Japanese government promotes collusion

2008-03-26T09:32:00.012+09:00

In the usual spectrum auction, collusion is strictly prohibited. But Japanese government (MIC) promotes collusion. This is a tradition in Japan, called kansei dango (government-made collusion).

In the 1950s, when many companies applied for the TV licenses, Kakuei Tanaka, a powerful politician, made the rule that gives the license to the applicant if many companies collude to one. Since then, collusion (ipponka) has been the official rule of the MIC.

But Softbank cried foul when MIC tried to give the licenses of 2.5GHz band to two companies they selected last year. So MIC reluctantly held a beauty contest in public for the first time in the Japanese history.

The result, however, was surprising. MIC selected KDDI that would use Mobile WiMAX as expected, but another was Willcom, whose technology "Next-generation PHS" was not deployed in any country. Moreover, its main shareholder is Carlyle Group, whose subsidiary went bankruptcy in the subprime turmoil.

Even worse, MIC held kansei dango in the VHF and UHF band. An expert said that there was an implicit contract that MIC would give VHF band to broadcasters and UHF to telecom carriers. And the technology that would be adopted in the VHF band is ISDB-T, which is adopted only in Japan and Brazil. Many experts are worried that MIC would repeat the fiasco of PDC, developed by NTT and enforced by MIC, which isolated Japanese mobile operators and manufacturers in the global market.

Technologically, the collusion makes no sense because some semiconductor makers implement DVB (international de facto standard), MediaFLO (adopted in the U.S.), and ISDB-T in one chip. Why is MIC selecting technology when all of them can be implemented in one handset? In the VHF band, more than twenty "mobile broadcasting" channels can be deployed. It would be easy and fair to let twenty operators compete and let the market pick up the winner, which would buy the loser.