Quote:
Originally Posted by termogard
(and some interesting comments from japanese residents below mentioned article)  |
I`ll roll my eyes at them here just as I would in real life.
This has been planned for at least 5 years. When we bought our current television 5 years ago, they were already doing a countdown. I am pretty sure they extended it once also.
If you applied, you were able to get the money back that you spent on a tuner - but even without filling out a form, you can pick up a cheap tuner for less than 5000yen (I spotted them on sale for 2000yen last week...). It isn`t necessary to change the antenna, so that is all you need to spend.
As for the hotels - all they need to do is get a splitter unit for about 8000yen, hook it to the tuner, and it can be run to all the rooms.
The quality difference between analog and digital is so incredibly clear I find it hard to imagine someone not wanting the improvement...
As Japan doesn`t do cable in the way that the US does, I think it`s very hard to make a comparison of media consumption. Most people in Japan DO watch broadcast television. Other viewing services are very much a niche market.