NHK’s “Value of Existence” Questioned in First Lawsuit Demanding Surcharge for Subscription Fees

The end of a tumultuous chapter…

On November 6, NHK filed a civil lawsuit with the Tokyo Summary Court against three households in Tokyo, demanding that they sign contracts and pay subscription fees and surcharges.

Since April of this year, NHK has been able to demand a “surcharge” of twice the subscription fee in addition to the subscription fee from households that do not sign a subscription agreement even though they have a TV set at home or refuse to pay the fee even though they have signed a subscription agreement. This is the first lawsuit filed by a household demanding payment of this “surcharge.

Regarding the lawsuit, NHK stated

The three households have been politely contacted by NHK, and we have sent letters, made phone calls, and visited them to ask them to enter into a contract.

The company explained, “We have been trying to respond in good faith, but they have not complied with our requests.

According to NHK’s “Data on Subscription Fees and Number of Subscriptions,” approximately 20% of subscribers do not pay their subscription fees, regardless of whether or not they have a contract. What is frightening is that NHK executives are,

“There is a possibility that we will be filing lawsuits all over the country.

“We may be sued nationwide in the future,” said a senior NHK official.

NHK’s “Estimated Household Payment Rate for Subscription Fees (by prefecture and nation)” (as of the end of FY 2010) shows that Okinawa Prefecture has the worst rate at 48.4%. More than half of the households do not pay subscription fees. The second worst prefecture is Osaka with 65.0%. Perhaps it is the nature of the residents of these prefectures to have tight purse strings.

The fact that they have taken the liberty of changing the law to allow them to collect “double the surcharge” without asking the public is not surprising, given the many complaints about their aggressive approach of forcing the public to sign contracts without telling them whether they want to or not under the “banner” of public broadcasting. The company then changed the law without asking the people and filed a lawsuit. In response to this, the following comments were made on social networking sites

The contract should be made voluntary. This is outdated.

This is a show-and-tell lawsuit.

NHK’s collection is abnormal. NHK’s collections are extraordinary.

On the other hand, the subscription fee has been lowered by 10% since October.

On the other hand, NHK has lowered its subscription fees by 10% since October, but this was probably a “foreshadowing” that it would be harsher on those who “do not pay.

With subscriptions at an all-time high around the world, will the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications allow NHK to continue this “collection system” unchecked? ……