The Japan Media Communication Center (JAMCO) supplies outstanding broadcast programs for use in international exchange, the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries, and contributions to social development and the advance of broadcasting around the world. As one of our key activities, we have hosted a conference on the media and international cooperation almost every year since our founding in 1991.

For the current fiscal year, the theme of the 33rd JAMCO International Symposium is Media Strategies of Southeast Asian Television Stations for the Digital Age. Academics and other experts will report and discuss their findings online.

One of JAMCO’s core roles is to select Japanese programs suitable for broadcast in developing regions of the world and produce international versions of them translated into English, Spanish, French and other languages. The resulting program library extends across a wide range of genres from children’s and school’s programs to documentaries and drama.

More than 14,900 programs have already been distributed under this system to 101 countries of Asia, the Pacific, Central and South America, Africa, Europe and other regions, and the numbers continue to grow. They are not only broadcast by the local broadcasting stations but also used at universities and other educational institutions.

This year’s symposium focuses on the countries of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which represent an important export market for Japanese broadcasting content. A report on Thailand describes how the business environment for terrestrial broadcasting has worsened due to declining advertising revenues. In Cambodia, conversely, which made the shift to digital broadcasting in 2023, new broadcasting stations are appearing onbre after another. Three experts will discuss the current trends.

Topics of particular interest include moves by commercial broadcasters develop as comprehensive entertainment corporations in collaboration with other digital media in Thailand, and the rapid development of initiatives to produce original content in Cambodia through tie-ups with foreign companies and companies from other business sectors.

The findings of this year’s international symposium will be used in the center’s own program production and distribution activities, and it is my fervent hope that they will also be useful for all media organizations now tackling the overseas distribution of broadcasting content.