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Portable News: App for Distribution of Foreign-Language Channels

Jun 26, 2019

 SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (hereinafter; “SKY Perfect JSAT”; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and President: Eiichi Yonekura) announced that its application for distribution of foreign-language channels “Portable News” has been selected for use in demonstration operation of the System for Communicating Multilingual Disaster Information to Foreign Tourists and Foreign Residents, which was implemented by the Kinki Bureau of Telecommunications (part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) as part of constructing a disaster information communications platform. Furthermore, the app will continue to be provided for demonstration operation during the 2019 G20 Osaka Summit in Japan to be held from June 28 to June 29, 2019.

 Portable News is an application which aggregates free live streaming of major foreign broadcasts. After free installation of the app, it can be used on smartphones, tablets, and etc. The app is mainly intended for use by foreign tourists and foreign residents in Japan. The app enables foreigners to watch channels such as news programs in their native language at any time. Recently, more than 30 million foreign tourists are visiting Japan from countries throughout the world. This has made it even more important to provide multilingual disaster information. Portable News features a PUSH function for providing disaster information in English at the time of disaster.

Overview of App

App Name: Portable News

Pricing: Free

Supported OS: iOS 9.0 and later/Android 5.0 and later

Distribution Channels

From October 2018, we added three new channels and now provide a total of 11 channels.

 From March 2019, the Kinki Bureau of Telecommunications (part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) has implemented demonstration operation of the System for Communicating Multilingual Disaster Information to Foreigners*. The system is intended to construct a communication platform for conveying the latest disaster information to foreigners in their native language to ensure understanding. Portable News was selected for the system and is cooperating in the demonstration operation. SKY Perfect JSAT seeks to support the communication platform to ensure that all foreign tourists and foreign residents in Japan are not isolated from information in the event of a large-scale disaster.

 In addition to our existing multichannel pay TV broadcast business and space business, SKY Perfect JSAT will continue new initiatives for transforming uneasiness into peace of mind in society by providing a wide range of business.

*March 5, 2019: “Regarding the Demonstration Operation of System for Communicating Multilingual Disaster Information to Foreigners” Press material issued by the Kinki Bureau of Telecommunications, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

http://www.soumu.go.jp/soutsu/kinki/01sotsu07_01001477.html

[SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation]

Representative:     Representative Director, President & CEO Eiichi Yonekura

Established:         November 10, 1994

Head office address: 1-8-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Businesses:          SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation is a leader in the converging fields of broadcasting and communications. It is Asia’s largest satellite operator with a fleet of 17 satellites, and Japan’s only provider of both multi-channel pay TV broadcasting and satellite communications services. SKY Perfect JSAT delivers a broad range of entertainment through the SKY PerfecTV! platform, the most extensive in Japan with a total of 3 million subscribers. In addition, SKY Perfect JSAT’s satellite communications services, which cover Japan and the rest of Asia, as well as Oceania, Russia, Middle East, Hawaii and North America, play a vital role in supporting safety, security and convenience for society as a whole.

SKY Perfect JSAT Group Website https://www.skyperfectjsat.space/en/

SKY Perfect JSAT Group mission: https://www.skyperfectjsat.space/en/company/mission/

 

(Attachment) App Screen

 1.Landing page             2. Channel screen

   

 3.Information screen           4. PUSH Distribution Notification (example)