Japanese channels on satelite TV in Belgium or Europe ?

[Maciamo]

My wife wonders if we can get Japanese TV by satelite in Belgium. I checked a list of channels by satelite, but could only find 3 channels on 2 different satelites. One of them was NHK World, but that not what she wants. We had never heard of the 2 others.

Does anyone know if we can get Fuji TV, Nihon TV, Asahi TV or TBS anywhere in North-Western Europe (UK, France, Germany...) ? I doubt so, but it doesn't cost anything to ask...

[Elizabeth van Kampen]

Tilburg in the Netherlands has a big Fuji factory/office and so there are quite some Japanese living overhere in this town. There are two other Japanese firms, but there is no Japanese TV station. There are discussions about an Indonesian (Garuda TV) and a Chinese station, but when we don't know when. But I never heared about a Japanese station or satelite.
I can understand that your wife misses a Japanese TV station.

[Maciamo]

In fact, I am quite surprised that Japanese TV companies do not broadcast more in Western Europe, considering that there are about 155,000 Japanese living there (over 1/4 of whom are permanent residents). That's more than all the Westerners in Japan, and we can get lots of channels in English, and even German, French, etc. in most Asian countries. I think that Japanese companies just do not care about their co-patriots abroad.

[CC1]

I'm sure that they just don't see it as cost effective. I mean it's not like they would just flip a switch and 'bam' now we broadcast to the EU. There is equipment to buy and personell to pay. There also may be some issues with the EU governments reguarding foreign broadcasts. I am unable to answer that though.

[Maciamo]

I'm sure that they just don't see it as cost effective. I mean it's not like they would just flip a switch and 'bam' now we broadcast to the EU. There is equipment to buy and personell to pay. There also may be some issues with the EU governments reguarding foreign broadcasts. I am unable to answer that though.

If it wasn't cost effective, why would there be French or German channels in Asia or all over the world, almost only for tourists ? (e.g. TV5 is a worldwide French channel showing a selection of French, Belgian, Swiss and Quecec TV programmes).

Btw, is there also so few Japanese channels in the States ? I mean, the US has about twice as many Japanese in the US as in Europe, but in Europe they are concentrated mainly in Western Europe, on an area 5x smaller than the USA (what's more, a high percentage of Japanese in the US live in Hawaii, far away from continental satellites).

[CC1]

If it wasn't cost effective, why would there be French or German channels in Asia or all over the world, almost only for tourists ? (e.g. TV5 is a worldwide French channel showing a selection of French, Belgian, Swiss and Quecec TV programmes).

Btw, is there also so few Japanese channels in the States ? I mean, the US has about twice as many Japanese in the US as in Europe, but in Europe they are concentrated mainly in Western Europe, on an area 5x smaller than the USA (what's more, a high percentage of Japanese in the US live in Hawaii, far away from continental satellites).

They have Japanese channels in the US, but you should realize that in the US the cable companies pay for these channels and then pass these costs off to the consumers. Anyone who uses the cable system is actually paying for these channels whether they watch them or not! (I can not comment on the system in the EU). If the system there is the same, then please pass the blame onto your local suppliers...not the Japanese.

[Lacan]

You can see FujiTV through internet: http://www.fujitv.co.jp/jp/ds/ds.asx
for other internet TV check this site : http://wwitv.com/portal.htm

[Maciamo]

I had forgotten about this thread. I have found the solution a while ago: JSTV, which describes itself as the sole broadcaster which mainly airs Japanese programmes in Europe and other neighbouring countries.

However I find their rates absolutely outrageous. It cost 50 euro (70US$ or 7500 yen) per month for only one channel + 150 euro of registration fee + buying the satelite antenna and decoder if we do not have one. In comparison, I pay 35 euro/month for over 100 channels with the cable TV. So JSTV cost abut 150 times more than cable channels !