Catering to the needs of the whole family, more than 100 channels offer a variety of programming.
J:COM provides many special CATV channels include live sports, a top foreign movie, Japanese movie and more. There are about 70 J:COM Shops across the country which have been established by Jupiter Telecommunications as contact points for customers. I visited one such shop in Sumida ward, J:COM Shop Sumida, a short walk from Tokyo Sky Tree (New Tokyo Tower). The first thing to catch your eye upon entering the shop are the colorful ceiling-to-floor, wall-to-wall TV monitor and panels. Some TV monitor showing on-air programming.
Staff, with electric appliances adviser qualifications, help customers operate equipment each step of the way.
One of the shop’s large TVs, offering a sample of the latest HDR (see the “brief explanation” ), stands in front of an inviting sofa. Customers, comfortably positioned, with remote control in hand, can’t help but feel at home. The “InteracTV” service offers a variety of useful features, from region specific and community-based information to news, games, stock prices, gourmet tips, and shopping information—all within a click of your remote control. One interesting feature lets you order a pizza for delivery on your TV screen from your local pizzeria. Customers are generally impressed with the ease of it all.
With laptop computers in the store, customers are served with 160Mbps of high-speed Internet service.
Each J:COM shop makes active efforts to promote community-based activities. At the Sumida shop, for example, yoga classes are offered to mothers, while children are kept busy in a matted play area close by. Aprroximatly 70% of the customers who visit J:COM Shops are already subscribe to J:COM services. By following-up the services and consultating related to digitalization, customer satisfaction is maximized, while service cancellations are minimized.
Intrigued reporters asked questions related to the cost of opening and maintaining the shop as well as responses to digitalization; they also focused on the future possibilities of Jupiter Telecommunications and its one-stop broadcasting and communication services. Upon gathering material for their pieces, reporters tested the capabilities of the shop’s high-speed Internet service using a store computer.
Dates:
Date: July 13, 2009
Participants:
A total of four reporters from four media outlets.
Main Activities:
Tour of a J:COM shop, a place where consumers can consult experts and learn about Jupiter Telecommunications’ Cable TV services. Interviews with concerned parties as well as a question and answer session with President Tomoyuki Moriizumi.
Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Ltd.
Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM), Japan’s largest cable television Multiple Systems Operator (MSO) and provider of multi channel broadcasting, was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sumitomo Corporation and Tele-Communications International, Inc. (presently Liberty Global, Inc.), the U.S. company. Within its Cable Television business, J:COM provides four integrated services—cable television, high-speed Internet access, fixed-line, and mobile telephony—to about 3,320,000 households across Japan (as of June 30, 2009) through a network of 23 franchises and 48 systems in Sapporo, Sendai, Kanto, Kansai and Kyushu. With Multi Channel Broadcasting, J:COM has consolidated its content delivery business focusing on distribution via cable, satellite, and IP multicasting services, and currently invests in, and operates, 17 specialized channels. The Company went public on the JASDAQ securities exchange in 2005.
HDR
The Digital Tuner with a Built-in Large-capacity HD Recorder. The “series record” function, which makes the recording of series such as serial dramas easy, is simple to operate. “W tuner” records two programs at the same time, and the “simultaneous play/record” function enables you to playback a program as it is recording, maximizing the benefits of digital broadcasting.
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