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[Bucky]

[jim katta]

That would actually be a great idea except:

1) Japanese TV is not watchable. I love Japan, but Japanese TV is the WORST. Hands down. Paying for that is like some sort of metaphysical joke.

2)The website you linked to is broken, so we're finished before we've started. Kinda makes since when you consider the mission of the service.

[L S]

Yes, I have watched a fair amount. I don't like it due to video quality. Only propriatary/closed systems with fiber (big bandwidth from head-end to home) have reasonable quality.

The business you described seems a nichy but doable.

Biggest issue is always the content rights side. If they have a way to get the rights to existing broadcasts within their business plan financials then it is all about promotion...which is not hard to do with J-expats...easy access, easy value levers, fat wallets with their assignments...hell, you coudl even get it rolled into their packages so the companies would pay.

Also, Y5000 is not much in Europe or N. America considering you pay about that (as an adder to basic services) for 1 or 2 Japan TV channels by satellite/cable. Satellite/cable will have better video than this type of set-up (always too much compression and poor resolution sometimes) but most people don't care.

Bottom-line...if this company does have lots of content that is meaningful (i.e. feels just like TV back in Japan) then they could make a business of it.

[Bucky]

I just spent some time exploring the site. Jim Katta, I don't know where you went, but the site *does* work for me.

The company provided us with a temporary login and password so we could take it for a spin. It does work and they have all the basic Tokyo channels (2 NHKs, Terebi Asahi, TBS, etc. . ) and all live.

A question now is whether Japanese expats are willing to sit in front of a PC rather than a TV to watch broadcasts.

You can download recorded shows to watch at your leisure.

[GuyJean]

Real FGs can't access it..

大変申し訳ありません。
在外邦人向けサービスの為
日本国内からのアクセスは出来ません

GJ

[ttjereth]

http://web.archive.org/web/20070830031602/http://www.jnet.ne.jp/

[L S]

A question now is whether Japanese expats are willing to sit in front of a PC rather than a TV to watch broadcasts.

Most new LCD or plasma TVs have VGA/PC inputs. Most J-expats will have these and that is where they will watch it. Getting them to plug in one of their PCs to the living room TV is not too huge a barrier, especially considering most Japanese are more technologically sophisticated than the average FG.

The end-user is really the spouse. They are stuck at home and feeling homesick and need the connection to home. And if they have kids, it is to try and maintain their Japanese fluency by watching shows from home and keep them entertained. Right now a lot of these people have satellite/cable for J-TV PLUS they go weekly to the local asian video-ya to rent DVDs of Japan TV shows. The demand is there. It is just education and promotion.

[Bucky]

Well, it looks like this service was not quite as legal as they wished it were.

The operator and an employee of Bangkok-based J Network Service, which distributes television programs aired in Japan to Japanese viewers in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and Europe, have been arrested for violating the Copyright Law, police said.
Kazuma Moriya, 40, of Hiroshima, and Haruka Nakagawa, 32, of Chiba, stand accused of feeding the episodes of Fuji Television day-time talk show "Gokigenyo" aired on Feb. 18 and 19 onto their server and making them available to their registered customers via the Internet without Fuji's permission.

They had place ads in a number of Japanese publications in the US advertising their service. But no more. . .

[FG Lurker]

Looks like there's an opening in the illegally provided J-TV market! Anyone interested in starting something up?

[chinaskih]

If there is anyone out there with a law degree please let us know if those services offering hosting for slingboxes are legal. I am very much interested.

The other option is to have the slingbox installed in your home/friend's home, if you get confused with router and cable configuration you can always call http://www.dokodemoterebi.com and get it installed for you.

[Taro Toporific]

Japanese Supreme Court Rules TV Forwarding Illegal
SLASHDOT.org | Tuesday January 25, 2011 @01:43AM
If you use anything like a Slingbox in Japan, you may be dismayed to find out that a Japanese maker of a similar service has been successfully sued by Japan Broadcasting Corp. and five Tokyo-based local TV broadcasting firms under copyright violations for empowering users to do similar things. TV forwarding or place shifting is recording and/or moving your normal TV signal from its intended living room box to your home computer or anywhere on the internet. Turns out that Japan's Supreme Court overruled lower court decisions confirming fears that to even facilitate this functionality is a copyright infringement on the work that is being transferred
More...

[Bucky]

Bucky Jr. has his slingbox set up here at our house on the Left Coast watching college Bball on his laptop in Setagaya. He better watch out for the TV police.

[Tommybar]

There are many places that offer this service in other countries (Such as A to B TV in the United States.

A to B requires that you contract directly with Direct TV (US SSN required) for content. A to B then 'sells' you a slingbox which they will connect to YOUR Direct TV connection. They will maintain this service for a modest price of US$99 a month.

But with the Direct TV contract and the A to B contract your fees run US$200-$300 a month.

Maybe all the Japanese service provider needs to do is have the user sign up for a J-Com or Sky Perfect account to be legal. This way the content is being paid for.