1-seg (one-seg) is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan. Usually it airs the same programs simultaneously with the land-based TV channels do.
In March, Japan’s state-run TV/radio broadcaster NHK started broadcasting the 1-seg programs in weekday’s lunch time, specifically designed for office workers having their lunch break. The programming is now called “1-seg 2(one-seg-two)” since it has a new different program content from that of the land-based TV channels.
In the programming, the live show, called “1-seg lunch box”, starts at noon everyday, and popular bilingual anchorwoman Ayako Kisa[J] introduces useful tips, business manners and the previews of nightly drama series aired on the broadcaster’s land-based channel. It ‘s also convenient for busy TV drama fans who have missed to check up the previous episodes but want to catch up the story progress, since the live show sometimes digest previous episodes in a few minutes.
Prior to NHK’s fore-running service launch, Tokyo MX (Tokyo’s local independent TV broadcaster similar to NY1) also started another “one-seg-two” service, which broadcast two programs at a time by using two segments in a channel.
As a result, the service name “one-seg-two” has double meanings which may confuse consumers. As Tokyo MX started the service in last June, the company neglected to register its name as the trademark or the servicemark. Tokyo MX keeps discussing NHK to standardize the name as to stand for a specific feature, but MX’s continuous effort has not yet reached a good conclusion.
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“So strange that two different services co-exist with the one same name”[J]
written by Hiroshi Hasegawa, Nikkei New Media
(Free user registration required to read his original story on Nikkei Business Online)
Masaru IKEDA