NHK Cosmomedia America

Name

NHK Cosmomedia America

Legal name

NHK Cosmomedia America, Inc.

Website

https://en.nhkcosmomedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

NHK Cosmomedia America is a New York-based subsidiary of Japan's NHK group that delivers end-to-end HD/4K/8K television production services and operates Jme, the only officially licensed 24-hour Japanese language streaming service in the US and Canada.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Broadcast Video Production Services

NAICS

Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621), Translation and Interpretation Services (54193), Television Broadcasting Stations (516120)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829), Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822)

akta.pro primary industry

Live-Action International/Co-Production & Service Production (MPADABAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regional/Local Market Publishers & Distributors (Territory Rights, Localization-led Publishing) (MPAFABAH), Translation & Transcreation Services (Script/Dialogue Adaptation) (MPAHAFAD)

Keywords

• Video production services
• Broadcast production
• 4K 8K production
• Mobile unit rental
• Japanese streaming service

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Streaming Subscription Services: Jme streaming service provides subscription-based access to live NHK broadcast and VOD content in the US and Canada. The service replaced TV JAPAN broadcasting in March 2024.
2. Content Production Services: End-to-end television production services for NHK Japan and commercial clients including HD, 4K, and 8K production of documentaries, sports coverage, music, variety programs, commercials, live broadcasts, and post-production work.
3. Mobile Unit Rental: K4 Sapphire mobile unit available for rental throughout the US with Engineer in Chief and utility crew for live telecasts of major sports coverage and entertainment events.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

NHK Cosmomedia America is an end-to-end television production company delivering HD, 4K, and 8K video production, live sports broadcasting, documentary production, post-production, and bilingual localization services to NHK Japan and commercial clients across the Americas. It also operates Jme, an all-inclusive Japanese-language live and on-demand streaming service for consumers in the US and Canada, offering NHK and Japanese commercial broadcaster content including dramas, movies, variety shows, documentaries, news, and anime.

Product overview

NHK Cosmomedia America operates two main business segments: streaming services and content production. The flagship streaming product is Jme, an all-inclusive Japanese video streaming service available in the USA and Canada, which replaced the legacy TV JAPAN broadcast service. Jme offers live NHK channels (NHK WORLD PREMIUM, NHK WORLD-JAPAN, and Jme Select) plus on-demand content including dramas, movies, variety shows, and documentaries. The content production division provides end-to-end television production including HD, 4K, and 8K Ultra Hi-Vision productions with 22.2-channel surround sound, leveraging the K4 Sapphire mobile unit for live sports coverage (including 200+ MLB games annually), and maintains post-production facilities with five edit suites. Additional services include ENG equipment rental, documentary production, and localization services (subtitling, voiceover, dubbing). The company also developed a REMI studio for remote production and offers dLibrary Japan as a separate SVOD sub-brand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Jme Streaming Service All-inclusive 24-hour Japanese-language live NHK broadcast and video-on-demand streaming service in the United States and Canada, offering NHK WORLD PREMIUM, NHK WORLD-JAPAN, and Jme Select channels plus on-demand dramas, movies, variety shows, documentaries, and anime for Japanese expatriates and Japan enthusiasts.
• HD/4K/8K Production Services End-to-end television production services for NHK Japan and commercial clients throughout North, Central, and South America, including HD, 4K, and 8K Super Hi-Vision video production, live broadcasts, sports coverage, music, variety, documentaries, commercials, and post-production, supported by bilingual Japanese/English production teams.
• K4 Sapphire Mobile Unit Rental Custom-designed 40ft HD expando mobile unit available for rental throughout the US for live telecasts of major sports coverage, entertainment, and multi-camera event recordings, with 22.2-channel surround sound audio recording capabilities and an Engineer in Chief plus utility crew.
• Post-Production Facilities Five non-linear edit suites with Adobe Premiere Pro CC and AVID Media Composer 8, plus a 5.1 surround sound audio mixing studio with voiceover sound booth and a live production studio with multiple cameras and green screens, offered for post-production work on broadcast content.
• MLB Live Production Services End-to-end live MLB baseball game production from US stadiums to viewers in Japan, streaming over 200 games annually featuring Japanese players such as Shohei Ohtani, leveraging K4 Sapphire and other production resources.
• Documentary Production Services Award-winning documentary production for NHK Japan and commercial clients that have received critical acclaim both in Japan and overseas.
• dLibrary Japan SVOD Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service streaming Japanese content, available on Apple TV and Roku platforms.
• ENG Equipment Rental Rental of electronic news gathering (ENG) equipment including Sony PDW-700, Sony NXCAM NX5R, and Canon XA25 cameras with various lenses, tripods, monitors, and lighting kits.
• Localization Services Bilingual Japanese/English localization services including transcription, translation, interpreting, subtitling, voiceover, narration, and dubbing.
• Jme Catch-up Streaming Service Catch-up streaming feature on Jme allowing subscribers in the US and Canada to access recently aired NHK and Japanese content on demand.
• My Neighbor Michael-san Talk Show Jme original talk show content offering, available to Jme subscribers in the US and Canada.

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NHK Enterprises, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2010Major shareholder of NHK Cosmomedia America and primary strategic partner. Part of the NHK group ecosystem providing content and production support.
• ITOCHU Cable Systems Corp.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor shareholder and cable systems partner providing infrastructure and distribution support.
• NHK Global Media Services, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor shareholder providing global media services support and content distribution infrastructure.
• NHK Educational CorporationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor shareholder in the NHK group focused on educational content production.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Japan Channel (JCTV): JCTV is a direct competitor to Jme, providing Japanese-language TV streaming to Japanese expatriates in North America. Both target the same niche diaspora audience with licensed NHK and commercial-broadcaster content, competing head-to-head for subscriptions in the US/Canada.
• Nippon TV International: Nippon TV's overseas streaming arm distributes Japanese content to North American audiences. Like NCMA/Jme, it competes for Japanese-diaspora subscriptions and licenses content from Japanese commercial broadcasters for streaming in the US/Canada.

Emerging players

• Crunchyroll: Crunchyroll overlaps with Jme on Japanese content streaming (anime, dramas) and competes for any bilingual Japanese/English viewers in North America. While Crunchyroll is anime-specialist and global, it cannibalizes parts of Jme's content library and viewer attention.
• Viki (Rakuten): Viki (owned by Rakuten) streams Asian dramas and variety content with subtitles to global audiences, including Japanese titles. It overlaps with Jme's VOD library for any subtitled-Japanese-content viewer in North America.

Broad incumbents

• NHK World-Japan: NHK World-Japan is NHK's free global English-language streaming service and the parent group's primary overseas distribution channel. Jme sits beneath it as the premium Japanese-language tier, making them complementary on distribution but comparable as overseas-NHK-channel operators.
• TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System): TBS is a major Japanese commercial broadcaster with overseas content distribution operations. NCMA's production services business licensors content from TBS and peers, making it a comparable production-and-overseas-distribution operator in the same value chain.
• Fuji TV (Fujisankei Communications International): Fuji TV operates overseas content distribution and runs regional streaming services including FujiTV+. It mirrors NCMA's role as an overseas arm for a major Japanese broadcaster, making it a structural analogue even though Fuji has a larger content catalog.
• NEP Group: NEP Group is the world's largest outsourced live-broadcast production services vendor, operating mobile units and REMI studios similar to K4 Sapphire. NCMA's production-services business competes for the same US live sports and event contracts, with NEP as a much larger incumbent.
• Game Creek Video: Game Creek Video operates large mobile production units for live US sports and entertainment broadcasts. It competes with K4 Sapphire for the same rental clients (broadcasters, leagues, event producers) on technical specifications and crew quality.

Others

• ABC Audio (Disney) / NHK-affiliate reverse feeds: Disney's ABC Audio and other US broadcasting infrastructure operators occasionally partner with NCMA for 4K/8K trial broadcasts and English-news co-production support. They are ecosystem participants rather than direct competitors, but adjacent in the production-services value chain.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NHK Cosmomedia America