TOKYO: IN A country not renowned for its adulation of sporting identities, US pro-baseballer and native Japanese Ichiro Suzuki is the exception to the rule.
Playing for the Seattle Mariners in 2001, Suzuki is a sensation in Japan, where he won his record seventh straight batting title in the Japanese league last year.
Such is his popularity in Japan that one of the country’s highest-rating networks, NHK, has made a major commitment to delivering High Definition television (HDTV) coverage of every Mariners home game to Japanese viewers.
Under the deal, NHK will pay the Mariners $US200,000 to lay cable at Safeco Field, the team’s home stadium, for 10 HDTV camera positions.
NHK already has installed HDTV cable at New York’s Yankee and LA’s Dodger Stadiums, to relay games to Japan when Japanese pitchers are on the mound.
“But this is the first time that 81 home games will be shown in HDTV outside the United States,” said Russell Gabay, Executive President for Major League Baseball International. “The volume is what’s remarkable.”
NHK’s decision is also expected to provide a solid boost to the HDTV standard in Japan, which as in the US and Australia, has struggled commercially since its launch last year.