For the purposes of modern television sets, TV networks in Japan broadcast via four systems. Two are terrestrial (analog and digital), and two are via satellite (BS and CS, both digital). If you happen to be interested in how Japan’s ISDB standard differs from the North American digital standards of ATSC, there are the Wikipedia articles for you.

When I first moved here, my TV, terrestrial antenna and satellite were all set up, so I didn’t really put too much thought into how everything worked. It took me some time to get used to having to switch between the terrestrial digital band and the BS band to look through all of the channels of note. On the other hand, it didn’t really take me long to realize that virtually all of the channels in the CS band are used for infomercials or pay-per-view movies.

Now, to view said pay-per-view movies it gave a phone number to call so you could pay for them. What I didn’t quite understand at the time was how the TV actually knew that it was authorized to show that program. After all, while I’m hooked up to an antenna and a satellite, I couldn’t really think of a good way for the TV to communicate with that station OR a way for the station to authorize my specific TV to play the program. It didn’t really bother me too much, so I put it out of my mind.

Many months later I remembered my previous wondering as to how everything on the TV works. After looking carefully through the menus followed by looking over the TV itself, I noticed two main things: a LAN port and a slot on the side that contained what’s called a B-CAS card. When I removed the card the TV stopped working. Interesting, but first I wanted to check out what the TV does with the LAN.

I fished out a LAN cable and plugged it in. I soon found that with the LAN cable plugged in, you can access news, weather, horoscopes, etc through the TV. Relatively boring stuff, really. Apparently it also adds support to interface with a harddrive addon so you can watch movies on-demand. Alright, I’ll admit that I like that idea. Unfortunately for me, though, I don’t have the special addon and don’t really want to purchase it. I moved on to the B-CAS card.

From messing around and searching about the B-CAS (BS-Conditional Access Systems) card I came to realize that each card has a unique code. This code gives the TV permission to decode and display the signal. You need this card for ALL digital signals, regardless of if it’s a free terrestrial broadcast or if it’s a pay-per-view movie.

Where I’m going with this is that TV here isn’t actually free, as NHK, much like the BBC in the UK, is supposed to collect fees from all people who own TVs. They do this by sending a guy door-to-door and collecting money. Not surprisingly, many people don’t answer the door or lie or do something to get out of paying. With me, I’ve luckily never been home when he comes. Yup, I’ve been here for nearly two years and I’ve never seen the NHK guy.

Moving on to the ACTUAL subject of this post, since I moved here I’ve had an annoying box that takes up the bottom-left quarter of the screen if I were to ever want to watch the NHK BS channels. I saw it when I first arrived, figured it was just a thing asking me to pay, and I ignored it and didn’t really watch those channels.

But I’m now vastly better at Japanese in general, especially kanji, than I was when I first arrived. Earlier today I happened to check what was on those channels and actually read the message. It said to hold the blue button on my remote (newer remotes have many ’special’ buttons here). I did so, and it took me to a special menu. In the menu it listed a website to register at to get rid of the damn message: https://pid.nhk.or.jp/bcas/.

I went to the website, only to realize that it is completely free to get rid of the message. All they want is for you to register with your name, address, and phone number.　I made up a name which apparently belongs to some singer, an address and a phone number and pressed submit…

A few seconds later…

The message on my TV that has annoyed me for so long…

Automagically disappeared.

Wow. It really was that easy.

This makes me assume that the satellite sends out a signal addressed to my specific card to tell it to STFU. This amuses me because I didn’t really expect much out of what looks to be little more than a glorified credit card.

And there you have it–a little explanation of the Japanese digital television system and how simple it really is to get rid of that annoying message.

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