Gov't to revoke license for channel of scandal-hit broadcaster

Mar 13, 2021 | News On Japan

Mar 13, 2021 (Japan Today) - The Japanese government will revoke the license given to a channel of a satellite broadcaster after finding the company, which was at the heart of a wining-and-dining scandal, had applied for the approval based on false information, the communications minister said Friday.

The license is for the Cinema 4K channel managed by a unit of Tohokushinsha Film Corp, for whom the eldest son of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga works, minister Ryota Takeda said.

A number of senior government officials have been reprimanded for violating an ethics code by being treated to lavish dinners by officials of Tohokushinsha, a company in the sector they regulated.

The broadcaster applied for the license in October 2016, saying its foreign investment ratio was below 20 percent -- the upper limit stipulated under the Japanese broadcasting law.

Tohokushinsha was given the approval in January 2017 and in August that year, verbally informed a communications ministry official of the possibility that it had violated the rules on foreign investment ratio, a senior ministry bureaucrat told parliament.

The company recently submitted a correction, saying the ratio had actually stood at 20.75 percent, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

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