NHK World International News Channel Offered on Android Devices

TOKYO – Japan’s public broadcaster is to make its international English-language news service NHK World, available free on mobile devices that use the Android OS.

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The news, documentary and culture channel is already available on computers and iPhones, and it hopes the wider distribution “will reach millions of additional viewers across the globe,” according to an NHK statement.

The NHK World website had 5.4 million hits in the first two weeks after the March 11 tsunami as it ran 24-hour rolling coverage of the aftermath of the disaster and unfolding crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.  

NHK won Broadcaster of the Year for its coverage of the disasters at the inaugural Internet television ConnectedWorld.TV Awards in September last year in Amsterdam.

This Android service will only be available to overseas viewers initially, but NHK (known officially in English as Japan Broadcasting Corporation) said in a statement that it “plans to introduce it in Japan once stability of system is confirmed.”

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