ABSTRACT
The Broadcast Law of 1950 was radically revised in 1988. The MPT decided that an industrial policy should replace the existing administrative policy so as to be compatible with the changing media market environment, particularly in the areas of new broadcasting technologies such as cable television and satellite broadcasting. This policy, in part, was a result of the Japanese government’s propagation of ‘informatisation’ (jôhôka) since the 1960s with the aim of catching up with more industrialised countries (Itô 1995). In the late 1980s, the MPT was attacked for its status quo oriented policies and slowness to keep up with the growth and diversification of broadcasting technologies, particularly in its competition with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) (Weinberg 1991). MITI oversaw the rapidly advancing business of computer technology, and had overlapping interests in telecommunications with the MPT. In trying to retain its supervision of the telecommunications business, the MPT submitted to MITI’s demands for radical reform. Accordingly, the MPT reorganised its internal structure by re-orienting towards long-term policy formulation, something that had previously been lacking. Realising the weaknesses of its technological position, the MPT concentrated on plans to carry out the liberalisation of cable television and communication satellite broadcasting, as well as digitalisation (Kaifu 2000).
