Souichirou Kozuka

There is largely a consensus that the policy goal of the broadcasting law is to maintain plurality. However, the approach to achieve this goal has been the subject of controversies in many countries, especially since the United States adopted the market-oriented approach. On the other hand, a question about how effectively the system works to achieve the goal under the adopted approach has been largely neglected. This paper argues that this issue can be analyzed by focusing on the agency problem within broadcasting entities and analyzes the recent attempts of regulatory reforms in Japan as a case study. The analysis shows that the Japanese regulator is confusingly swaying between strengthening of the regulation and liberalizing in reliance on market discipline. Copyright © 2010 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.