Japan's Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry plans to require terrestrial digital TV and AM radio broadcasters nationwide to equip their relay stations with reserve power systems, Yomiuri Shimbun reports.
The ministry is making the measures obligatory as broadcasting at many relay stations stopped after the 11 March earthquake, making it difficult for survivors to obtain information from broadcast media about the subsequent tsunami and aftershocks.
The ministry is also considering providing local broadcasters with subsidies if they face financial difficulty due to investment in this equipment at a time when stations are undertaking complete digitalisation of terrestrial broadcasting.
Disaster management measures for broadcast media will become mandatory with a ministerial order when the revised Broadcast Law is put into effect at the end of June.
As a result, broadcasters nationwide will be required to set up reserve power systems at all relay stations by October 2018.
Until now, there has been no specific standard for regulations on reserve power systems.
Currently, about 100 out of 11,000 terrestrial broadcast relay stations nationwide are suspected of lacking reserve power systems and sufficient fuel for generators.
So far, of 298 terrestrial broadcasters in six prefectures in the Tohoku region, 148 said their broadcasting service had stopped. Nearly 90 percent were attributed to a shortage of fuel.
After the disaster, many cable TV stations could not broadcast because crucial broadcast equipment was destroyed by the tsunami. The ministry also plans to oblige broadcasters not to place such equipment on their buildings' floors, which are often susceptible to flooding, the sources said.
(Source : Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union)
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