Terrestrial Digital Broadcasting Gets Under Way in Big Japanese Cities

摘要

Terrestrial digital broadcasting in Japan started on Dec.l in the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. A ceremony marked the start of broadcasting at eleven o'clock in the morning as officials from government and industry celebrated the start of a new media that is expected to replace analog broadcasting by 2011. A ceremony at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo included the Digital Terrestrial Broadcast Promotion Council, a government and industry association promoting terrestrial digital broadcasting, and the Association for Promotion of Digital Broadcasting (D-Pa), a group of broadcasters and manufacturers of broadcast-related products, high-ranking government officials, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and leaders of the broadcasting and electronic industries. All told, 900 officials witnessed the count down and cerebrated an important event in the new age of television.