Fuji Television has unveiled Japan's first commercial 4K ultra high definition (UHD) online streaming service, in conjunction with nascent technology provider Mist Technologies.
The subscription service Fuji TV on Demand is being delivered via the MistCDN content delivery network platform – a peer-to-peer (P2P) network which can deliver contents at bitrates of as much as 40MB per second.
The service launched with a streamed documentary called Battleship Island, about the abandoned Hashima Island near Nagasaki in southern Japan and its undersea coal mine. The industrial island, which was manned by forced labour during the 1940s, was controversially awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status on 6 July as the Fuji TV On Demand service launched.
Another 4K documentary, about Tokyo's night-time illuminated architecture, and a popular Chinese-Japanese TV drama called Mysterious Summer, are also among the content available.
The Fuji TV service is the first mass-market application of MistCDN, following its developer's launch in 2013 with funding from Japanese telco KDDI. To achieve maximum efficiency, MistCDN needs P2P users to be watching the same things simultaneously. However, the company is confident this will come to pass thanks to the popularity of Fiji TV.
Japanese broadcasters have been slow to embrace online services. But, under pressure from US giant Netflix, which will launch in Japan this autumn, Mist Technologies expects the local SVOD sector to quickly expand.
Netflix is already collaborating with Fuji TV to produce original content for its entrance in the Japanese streaming market.
