Fuji Television President Chihiro Kameyama’s comments at his last press conference held on May 26th, 2017.
Q) In resigning from your post in June, how do you feel looking back on your four-year term as President?
During the four years, I specifically remember the many natural calamities that we encountered. The landslide disaster in Hiroshima and the large earthquakes at Kumamoto are still very fresh in my memory. Fuji Television’s exclusive footage of the flooding of Kinugawa River was awarded with the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association Prize. Television is an essential utility and our duty as a member of the mass media is to fulfill our responsibility, especially in times of disaster. As a core broadcaster, fulfilling this mission makes having a broadcasting license meaningful. In this respect, I feel that I was able to sincerely fulfil this part of the responsibility.
However, I am resigning, taking full responsibility for not being able to guide the company on to a recovery track to improve audience ratings, and also to change the overall flow and the atmosphere of the company itself. Neither Fuji Television’s production ability nor the capability from each individual employee is weaker than our competitors. Rather, I was unable create an environment that allows each and every employees to fully demonstrate its maximum performance. Although, I will say that I have done the best I could over the last four years and that I have absolutely no regrets. It will be discourteous to both my employees and to the shareholders had I not.
I believe in the power, the ability my employees hold. If we concentrate the abilities of each individual, we then should be able to move on to a more positive direction. I will be looking forward to the next new corporate structure.
Q) You will become the next President of BS Fuji. What are your ambitions?
While being at Fuji Television, I was pushing for the mutual entry of BS (=Broadcast Satellite) and CS (=Satellite Communication, pay TV) channels into terrestrial TV. For this synergy to maximize its potential, I want to capitalize on the advantages of the BS channel.
BS Fuji is doing incredibly well, however, our next task is to increase the level of overall audience recognition. The viewing environments and its reach are spreading but compared to terrestrial television, there is still a disparity. There is also a lack of understanding in terms of BS channels being free-to-air, just like terrestrial television. To counter this issue, we can only create new topics and ideas to be sent out across the nation with the help from all of you present. And, next year, operational 4K broadcasting is waiting in the horizon. The point is how we can turn ‘BS 4K,’ into a business opportunity. I want to make sure that the vital experiences which I fostered at Fuji Television are lived up to the maximum. So, I ask for your continued cooperation and support.
Thank you very much for the last four years.
Mr. Kameyama’s resignation will become official on June 28th, 2017, at the General Meeting of Shareholders for Fuji Media Holdings, after official approval for the new executive structure comes through.