Liberal Democratic Party member Kimi Onoda speaks during a House of Councillors Budget Committee session on Dec. 17, 2021. (Mainichi/Kan Takeuchi)

       TOKYO -- A junior member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party called on Dec. 17 for public broadcaster NHK to introduce a scrambling system, under which only people who want to watch NHK programs pay subscription fees for conditional access.

       The broadcaster is set to start a demonstration test of online program streaming for those who don't own TV sets in fiscal 2022. During a Dec. 17 House of Councillors Budget Committee meeting, junior legislator Kimi Onoda said of the plan, "If they're trying to charge for programs on the internet, that's just disgraceful."

       The upper house legislator told the committee, "People today, particularly young people, are not watching TV. I myself haven't owned a TV for 20 years." She added, "I've been hearing about a push to get fees from the internet (streaming viewers)."

       Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yasushi Kaneko responded, "We're currently not considering newly requiring those who don't have TVs to pay subscription fees," to which Onoda replied, "I ask that you'll never consider it."

       Onoda then went on to say, "The current system has had those who are able to receive NHK programs pay the fees. Are they going to charge anyone in the world if their broadcast is expanded to the internet?" She said, "What they should be aiming for is to introduce a scrambling system."

       (Japanese original by Hiroyuki Tanaka, Political News Department)

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