Wowow loses its shine

Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 25-09-2008

wowow.jpgJapan’s wonderfully-named satellite TV network Wowow is likely to see profits tumble. Wowow has been on air since 1991, showing movies, anime series and popular US series like The Simpsons, UK comedy hit Little Britain and the CSI series. Some have described the station as “Japan’s answer to HBO”, helped by its regular boxing coverage.

But profits are predicted to fall 39% to $19.8m (Yen 2.1bn) compared with 2007-8. Executives at the broadcaster issued the guidance Sept 25 for their current fiscal year which ends in March 2009. Operating profits are also likely to be squeezed, falling 45% to $28.3m. These falls are blamed on a weakness of the Dollar against the Yen.

Total advertising and subscription sales are likely to rise overall by two per cent to about $629m.

Wowow was Japan’s first privately-backed satellite broadcaster and pay-TV service.

© Rapid TV News 2008

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