TOKYO — Pilot terrestrial broadcasts of digital programming will begin in Japan in 2000, according to the scheduled hammered out here this week by the terrestrial digital broadcasting advisory committee of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Regular broadcasts will commence in 2003 in Japan's three largest urban areas and will become available nationwide in 2006.
The digital-broadcast effort will address two areas: TV broadcasting, which will focus on video while also providing for digital audio and data broadcasts; and datacast-capable audio broadcasts.
Because of the limited bandwidth available, the committee recommends the use of UHF for TV broadcasting.
The committee is banking on a wholesale shift to digital broadcasting by 2010. Analog-TV broadcasting is scheduled to terminate that year, provided that digital-broadcast coverage extends to all of the country and that more than 85 percent of all households have acquired digital receivers by that time.
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