JCOM Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, whose main operation is an MSO (multiple-system) cable operator in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. It is a consolidated subsidiary of KDDI, and is a 50/50 joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation.
Previously known as Jupiter Communications, the company uses the brand name J:COM, and many of its subsidiaries have the J:COM name.
History
The company was created in December 1994 by Tele-Communications Inc., one of the largest MSOs in the world at the time. The company would initially offer cable systems and would later branch out to telephone services.[1] The company expected to set up its telephony services by mid-1996, as well as trialing interactive television services.[2] TCI, on its behalf, had problems with Japanese bureaucracy, as well as problems faced by smaller cable companies to provide digital services even after deregulation in 1993, enabling more foreign control.[2] In 1999, it signed an agreement with @Home Internet to provide internet services for its subscribers.[3]
Liberty Global sold its stake to KDDI in January 2010.[4]
On December 1, 2023, it added Paramount+ to its services, alongside WOWOW.[5] In June 2025, it took over satellite channel BS Shochiku Tokyu, saving it from closure, and renaming it J:COM BS.[6]
J:COM Channel
J:COM Channel is the name given to its community channels. A second channel, J:COM TV, started broadcasting in June 2011.[7]
External links
References
- Henry Dubroff. TCI revamp to trigger four IPOs The Denver Post, December 7, 1994^
- Bureaucracy in Action: One Firm's Struggle to Bring Cable Television to Tokyo The New York Times, October 3, 1995^
- At Home to Offer Internet Access In Japan in Sumitomo Venture^
- Liberty Global Sells Stake in Japanese Company^
- 小野佳希. サブスク映像配信「Paramount＋」日本上陸. 12/1提供開始 PHILE WEB, 2023-09-20, retrieved 2023-09-20^
- ｢BS松竹東急｣の｢J:COM BS｣へのチャンネル名変更と放送継続のお知らせ BS松竹東急株式会社, 2025-06-18, retrieved 2025-06-18^
- J:COMメディアセンター J:COM チャンネル(コミュニティチャンネル) 放送統合送出センター^