June 2011
A Review on the Parallel Distribution of Broadcasts
Seiichi Murakami
On the back of the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK and some of the commercial broadcasters began to deliver disaster-related TV and radio news on the Internet via parallel transmit. Terrestrial television had never seen parallel transmission of this magnitude. We will recapitulate how, subsequent to the disaster, Japanese broadcasters used the Internet, giving a particular focus to the role the parallel distribution played, while considering challenges brought to our attention.
Immediately after the quake hit, many terrestrial TV broadcasters moved to simulcast relevant news by utilizing video sharing websites such as Ustream or Nico Nico Live. On the radio broadcasting front, attempts were made to diversify news transmission channels through the Internet. One such effort was to temporarily expand locally-restricted “radiko,” Internet Protocol simulcast radio service, across the country.
In the light of extensive blackouts and inaccessibility to TV or radio services suffered by large numbers of people, broadcasters made efforts to devise special arrangements to spread disaster-related information. These measures went some way to fulfilling their intended purpose, and also played a role in distributing Japanese news abroad.
It needs to be pointed out, however, these simulcast arrangements were not a product of crisis management but rather an urgent ad-hoc reaction to the unprecedented calamity. Another thing to note is that legal issues have yet to be hashed out in the area of Internet simulcast. Some of its aspects may contravene the Broadcast Act which grants broadcasters an exclusive right or license to broadcast in a particular area. Operating in an age when the boundary between broadcasting and telecommunications is disappearing, broadcasters cannot dispense with the Internet which has become an immensely invaluable resource in a time of disaster but, as it is at present, there are still a number of issues to be sorted out.
While covering some of the problem areas, our report will give a review of post-quake events related to the use of the Internet by broadcasters, in the hope that our findings will contribute to improvement of disaster preparedness in the field of information distribution.