was a
Television channel from the
BBC available via
Satellite in
Japan . Similar in format to
BBC Prime , which now broadcasts a service in other
Asia n countries, BBC Japan showed such BBC programmes as ''
Blackadder '' and ''
Fawlty Towers '', with many of them
Subtitle d in
Japanese .
The channel launched on
December 1 ,
2004 and was available over
Sky PerfecTV! 110 and
4th MEDIA .
On 20th March 2006, the BBC [http://www.bbcjapan.tv/news.aspx?menu=news announced] that its distributor JMC "no longer has the financial means to honour its contractual commitments to distribute the BBC Japan channel". On 24th April, the BBC confirmed that BBC Japan would cease broadcasting on 30th April, but would be seeking carriage for a replacement channel in Japan.
