Poor households to get free digital TV tuners

The government plans to distribute free digital TV tuners to about 1.07 million households on welfare before Japan's terrestrial TV broadcasting services switch to digital format in July 2011, sources said.

The plan will cost the government more than 5 billion yen even if electric appliance makers develop 5,000-yen tuners with simplified functions in response to the government's request.

A Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications panel discussing measures for the digitalization of TV broadcasts approved the plan in principle on Tuesday, the sources said.

Digital TV tuners, which enable users to watch digital broadcasting on analog TV sets without buying expensive digital televisions, will be provided in fiscal 2009 at the earliest, the sources said.

The committee decided on the plan to enable cash-strapped households to continue receiving TV broadcasting services after analog services are discontinued by July 24, 2011.

Many committee members shared the view that measures should be also taken for other struggling households that are not eligible for welfare benefits or have not applied for the benefits despite meeting the requirements.

If the government supplies digital tuners to those households, the cost for the plan would grow significantly.

In principle, consumers are supposed to shoulder the financial burden to buy new TV sets, tuners and other devices to receive digital terrestrial broadcasting. However, the committee has discussed measures to help households that cannot afford the extra costs for TV broadcasting services, which provide information essential to their daily lives.

The committee also considered relief measures for about 1.4 million households exempted from paying viewing fees to Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), about 8.4 million households consisting only of elderly people, and about 6 million households with disabled members.

The committee also discussed ways to provide the aid, including cash distributions, free TV tuners and vouchers.

In the end, the committee decided to put priority on households on welfare and distribute TV tuners.

The communications ministry has called on consumer electronics makers to come up with digital TV tuners priced as low as 5,000 yen.

Currently, mainstay products cost around 20,000 yen.

If the government distributes those models at retail prices, the costs will inflate to 21.4 billion yen.

The measures for low-income households will be included in an interim report submitted by the ministry's Telecommunications Council on June 27.

In response to the report, the ministry will decide on the details by the end of August and include the necessary costs in its budget requests for fiscal 2009, the sources said.

According to a ministry survey, 43.7 percent of the nation's households had digital TV sets and other compatible devices at the end of March.

Communications minister Hiroya Masuda said Monday the ministry would spend about 200 billion yen over three years on digitalization-related measures, including those for low-income earners and poor-reception areas.(IHT/Asahi: June 12,2008)