NHK loses 7 bil. yen in fees as viewers lock the door

[Maths Dude]

"The Yomiuri Shimbun

NHK revenues from viewing fees dropped 7 billion yen in fiscal 2004 from the previous year due to a rise in the number of viewers refusing to pay them, the broadcaster said on its Web site Friday. "

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm


Damn straight, NHK is shit anyway.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Nice. I did like watching sumo though. What's the point of public televions anyway? Just stop wasting tax money and have some damn commercials.

[Maths Dude]

One of my mates from africa who lives in Japan never pays - he just says when they come to the door "I dont watch NHK". Then sends the blood hounds on their way. I escaped paying for 3 years, then they got my wife when I wasn't there, naturally being a J she signed up. Man I was so pissed. I think Gaijin mostly dont sign up, hell alot dont even pay the damn city tax. I never paid it once

[AssKissinger]

This has been discussed before but I've never paid. I don't act retarded when they come to the door, I don't pretend I can't speak Japanese or that I speak French, I don't claim to not watch TV, I just tell them plainly that I will not ever pay. I've used this approach three times in three different apartments and it worked everytime. I don't know why people make such a big deal about it. Just say no. It's as easy as that.

[Maths Dude]

I'll try that line when the Mortgage bill comes through AK. Hopefully it will work. :P

[jim katta]

this whole situation has been brewing for some time, and now it's basically 'bluff called.' so now we get to see if NHK can somehow find a way to really and truly forcibly make people pay.

[Big Booger]

I escaped paying for 3 years, then they got my wife when I wasn't there, naturally being a J she signed up. Man I was so pissed. I think Gaijin mostly dont sign up, hell alot dont even pay the damn city tax. I never paid it once

ME too... F'in J-wife gave them her bank account info like a moron....

ANd that NHK scandal had nothing to do with the drop.. I guess the article forgot to mention that...

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=19319

7.4 million, cost them 7.2 billion...

[AssKissinger]

I escaped paying for 3 years, then they got my wife when I wasn't there, naturally being a J she signed up. Man I was so pissed. I think Gaijin mostly dont sign up, hell alot dont even pay the damn city tax. I never paid it once

ME too... F'in J-wife gave them her bank account info like a moron....

ANd that NHK scandal had nothing to do with the drop.. I guess the article forgot to mention that...

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=19319

7.4 million, cost them 7.2 billion...

Shit! My wife is more adamant than me. She says 'We will never pay'. She actually encourages me to 'cuss out solicitors and to scare them with English'. She tells me to say the word 'fuck' really loudly. And it's my pleasure.

[dimwit]

I haven't been bothered by NHK for at least six years. I guess they gi ve up trying.

[fatslug]

can u imagine back home wherever u r from....that a man knocks on the door asking to pay up for watching TV......HAHAHAHAHA....the pricks would get bashed up.......

[kotatsuneko]

[emperor]

They called around once when i was getting out of the shower and I answered the door while barely covered by a teatowel...

I told them I didnt have a tv as the commercials played quietly in the background... but it wouldve been fun to put my hands on his face and feel around and then shout out "Daddy... is that you?!?!"

[Taro Toporific]

[amdg]

Haven't they built in the fees to cable TV payments? That is, part of your monthly bill for cable TV includes the NHK payments. Sly buggers, I tip my hat to them.

[Taro Toporific]

Haven't they built in the fees to cable TV payments? That is, part of your monthly bill for cable TV includes the NHK payments. Sly buggers, I tip my hat to them.

Straight from the horse's mouth, Mrs Taro who's in the biz...
"At Jupiter Communications [Japan's largest cable supplier] we've got lots of NHK protesters ...Maybe 20% have 'unselcted' to pay NHK."

So, yes, the cable TV operators try to sneak NHK in to your bill...But, no it's not required. There's a checkbox on the Jupiter Communications' cable TV contract to NOT pay NHK, and you can ask to discontinue payment at anytime. However, NHK offers a healthy discount in the monthly fee if you pay for it as part of your cable TV package.

[FG Lurker]

Heheh, I can see a lot of people cancelling their CATV if they were forced to pay NHK. I certainly would.

[IkemenTommy]

I heard that those people who proudly put the "I pay NHK" sticker on their doors get targetted by other solicitors. There were all these different colored stickers on my door when I first moved in and I removed them immediately after hearing this.

[Taro Toporific]

Heheh, I can see a lot of people cancelling their CATV if they were forced to pay NHK. I certainly would.

If NHK tried to extort payment from me via the Japanese summary court, I would ship my flat screen TV from my house in the States because US-spec TVs cannot receive Japanese chanels 1, 2, or 3. No NHK reception -- no NHK fees.

Several of my longterm f'ed gaijn friends used US-spec TVs or installed a TV studio monitor that receives no channels, only video tape and satellite TV to avoid paying NHK. They looooooved to invite the NHK collector into their house to see they really couldn't watch NHK.

A couple FG professors I know grew so tired of NHK collection efforts, they stopped watching all TV and got rid of their TVs. They loved to brag sanctimoniously that they, "Don't own a TV." Of course, after 25+ years of not watching TV, they became wildly ignorant of the world. Claiming you never ever watch TV is like claiming you never read books. (Likewise, claiming that you never used the Internet is like claiming you never used a library.)

For years I've wondered why the NHK guy didn't come around my house in Yokohama (in Tokyo the little semi-retired NHK man came by once a month like a clock to swap lies and joke around with me about my not paying). It turns out my Yokohama ward office is paying my basic NHK fees for me because I'm handicapped, hee, hee.

[Reddeville]

Taro`s done it again - given us the best, breaking news. As it`s NHK Taro`s given me the best comedic relief. Take NHK `subscribers` who don`t pay to court - that`s horseshit pure and simple.

NHK will eat all our shit before they will get away with that - but then again this is Japan where the Nippon folks are logically challenged and jump to attention wheneve some little shitty fascist comes along and tells them to do something.

NHK CAN NEVER force people to pay because There Is No Penalty for non payment. These slimey parasites prey on the idiotic (most Japanese) and fucked gaijin who are suddenly surprised or don`t know the Broadcasting Law. There is no due date on the NHK payments slips, there is no penalty for non payment. The fuckers are doing their usual bullshit job. Ignore them.

[FG Lurker]

NHK CAN NEVER force people to pay because There Is No Penalty for non payment.

I've never paid NHK and I'm not about to start.

That said, the old farts who head NHK may be senile idiots, but they are well-connected senile idiots. If their source of money for personal slush funds starts to dry up, you can bet a new law will be passed in the Diet -- this time with some bite to it.

[Captain Japan]

Gov't may allow NHK legal action against fee evaders
Kyodo via Japan Today

TOKYO — Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso indicated Tuesday that the government may allow Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) to take legal action against viewers refusing to pay fees to the public broadcaster. NHK is considering asking summary courts to issue orders for payment from fee dodgers.

The number of NHK viewers refusing to pay fees shot up to 1.7 million as of July 31, as the broadcaster struggled to cope with a series of embezzlement and other scandals involving its employees. NHK depends on fee income and has been forced to restructure itself in the face of a sharp fall in fee income.

[Captain Japan]

NHK may see 50 bil. yen revenue loss as many viewers refuse to pay
Kyodo

Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) anticipates up to around 50 billion yen in revenue loss for the fiscal year ending next March because many viewers are refusing to pay fees to the public broadcaster, NHK President Genichi Hashimoto said Tuesday.

The number of households refusing to pay citing a series of scandals at NHK and other reasons is estimated to reach about 1.3 million at the end of this month, and the revenue from viewership charges for the six months through September will be around 23.7 billion yen short of the company's projection, he said.

If fee nonpayments continue at this pace, NHK could see a loss in fiscal 2005 of around 50 billion yen, he said at a news conference in which he also announced an NHK "revival" plan.

In the plan that will serve as the basis for its management programs for fiscal 2006-2008 to be drawn up by next January, NHK will strive to be independent and autonomous as a public broadcaster, and aim to cut its workforce by 10 percent or some 1,200 workers.

The plan, approved at a meeting of the broadcaster's executives Tuesday, also calls for considering legal action against viewers who refuse to pay fees.

Regarding taking legal action, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso, who supervises the broadcasting industry, said earlier Tuesday, "It may be one of the options at present (to ask summary courts to issue orders for payment from people)."

A group of citizens who are refusing fee payments petitioned NHK on Tuesday to withdraw a move toward any such legal action.

The group, led by University of Tokyo professor Satoshi Daigo, said in the petition, "NHK catered to politicians' intervention and did not provide autonomous broadcasting required of a public broadcaster," referring to allegations that NHK altered in 2001 a program about the role of the emperor during the war. NHK denies the allegations.

The group says it is justifiable for viewers to withhold viewership fee payments arguing that NHK is not fulfilling its responsibility as a party to the viewership fee contract.

NHK, as a noncommercial public broadcaster, depends on fee income from viewers. It is mandatory for households to pay the fees, but there is no penalty for not paying.

[Taro Toporific]

THE ZEIT GIST
The NHK man cometh
The Japan Times: Dec. 13, 2005
As the broadcaster threatens to sue those who don't pay fees, drastic steps may be necessary
NHK, Japan's beleaguered national broadcaster, is facing revenue losses of around 50 billion yen yen for this fiscal year as a result, it says, of people refusing to pay their subscription fees.
At the moment, the NHK fee (1,395 yen a month for terrestrial broadcasts) is mandatory under the law.
Bizarrely, however, there is no penalty if you don't pay.
But with nearly a million Japanese households refusing to put up the cash, NHK is planning some drastic measures to to crack down on delinquent TV owners who fail to pay their viewer fees to the pushy guy on the moped.
In September, it announced that it may take people to court for nonpayment.
We therefore felt it necessary to draft a list of guidelines to help those who don't feel like forking out for NHK documentaries on cheese-making, squirrels and Finland anytime soon.

Don't answer the door
This is an obvious solution, but not without its drawbacks.
Our (ahem) research indicates that this strategy can lead to Christmas parcels being sent back to the sorting office and potential hot dates evaporating into a frigid mist.
And you should also brace yourself for some protracted bouts of irate doorbell abuse; those moped guys are very spirited.

Lack of trust
The broadcaster has been involved in a number of damaging embezzlement scandals this year.
One producer reportedly pocketed 48 million yen yen in fictitious production funds.
As a result, when the NHK man calls to your home and demands your subscription fee, tell him you can't be sure he won't just spend the money you give him on pachinko, and tell him you'll be calling round to NHK in person to drop off the money....more.....

[IkemenTommy]

Only if they have more laxed gun control laws here..

[Taro Toporific]

Only if they have more laxed gun control laws here..

:domo::domo::domo:
Court rules NHK viewers should pay fees even if they are dissatisfied with programs
crisscross, Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 05:00 EST
YOKOHAMA ---The Yokohama District Court has ruled that people who watch Japan Broadcasting Corp must pay the required fee to NHK even if they are dissatisfied with the contents of its programs, the public broadcaster said Saturday....
....[SIZE="3"]The broadcaster, which plans to take legal action from April against viewers who refuse to pay the fee[/SIZE], hopes the latest ruling will persuade viewers to pay the required subscription, NHK officials said....more...

[American Oyaji]

Bah humbug!

[Big Booger]

:domo::domo::domo::domo:
Court rules NHK viewers should pay fees even if they are dissatisfied with programs
crisscross, Sunday, March 12, 2006 at 05:00 EST
YOKOHAMA ---The Yokohama District Court has ruled that people who watch Japan Broadcasting Corp must pay the required fee to NHK even if they are dissatisfied with the contents of its programs, the public broadcaster said Saturday....
....The broadcaster, which plans to take legal action from April against viewers who refuse to pay the fee, hopes the latest ruling will persuade viewers to pay the required subscription, NHK officials said....more...

So they are going to sue every single user who doesn't pay them? HAHAHAHA Won't that cost more than earning their trust back? Something about biting the hand that feeds you comes to mind....

[omae mona]

Something about biting the hand that feeds you comes to mind....

Wait, I thought they were going to sue the people who didn't pay, not the people who did pay.