Photo/Illutration Osamu Kanemitsu, president of Fuji Media Holdings Inc., apologizes during an April 8 news conference. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

The head of Fuji Media Holdings Inc., in an about-face, admitted the company consulted with the telecommunications ministry about violations in the Broadcasting Law related to foreign shareholders.

Fuji Media Holdings President Osamu Kanemitsu on April 8 apologized for the company having violated the Broadcasting Law over a period of about two years until September 2014, during a news conference.

Foreign individuals and companies held more than 20 percent of the shares in the company and had voting rights during that time, a breach of the Broadcasting Law.

Kanemitsu also said a telecommunications ministry official sternly cautioned him about the illegal nature of Fuji Media Holdings’ foreign ownership when he consulted with the official in December 2014.

But when asked by The Asahi Shimbun on April 5 about whether telecommunications ministry officials were consulted, Kanemitsu said, “Not in a formal manner.”

Three days later, he changed his tune and admitted to visiting the ministry.

Ministry officials also said on April 8 that such a meeting had been held and that there was no plan to retract the broadcast certification given to Fuji Media Holdings.

Among the company’s major subsidiaries are Fuji Television Network Inc. and Fuji Satellite Broadcasting Inc.

Companies with more than 20 percent of shares with voting rights held by foreigners cannot be certified as a broadcasting company. If a violation is discovered, the telecommunications minister has the authority to retract its earlier approval.

At the April 8 news conference, Kanemitsu said he was sorry that the company had exceeded an extremely important ratio regarding foreign ownership.

The problem for Fuji Media Holdings began from April 2012 when it included a program production company that had become a subsidiary in Fuji Media Holdings as holding shares with voting rights.

But, in fact, the shares owned by that company did not have voting rights.

Excluding those shares from the total with voting rights led to exceeding the 20-percent ceiling for foreign ownership for the two-year period until September 2014 by between 0.00042 and 0.00083 percentage point.

Kanemitsu said company officials realized the error of including the shares held by the subsidiary in September 2014. Two months later, company officials realized the foreign ownership provision had been violated for the two previous years.

In early December 2014, Kanemitsu, who was then a lower-ranking executive, visited the telecommunications ministry on two occasions and reported the violations. He explained that one aim of the visit was to feel out the possibility of having the company’s certification retracted.

During the second visit, a ministry official told Kanemitsu, “Never allow this to happen again.”

Because it was only a caution, Kanemitsu said he felt the company’s certification would not be rescinded.

Fuji Media Holdings resolved its foreign ownership problem toward the end of September 2014, but never disclosed the fact at that time that there had been a period when it had violated the foreign ownership provision.

Kanemitsu said the response of telecommunications ministry officials led company officials to feel there was no need to disclose the violation.

Meanwhile, ministry officials on April 9 said there was nothing wrong in the handling of the matter in the past by officials in 2014.

Ryota Takeda, the telecommunications minister, said, “At the time of the consultation, there was no longer any legal violation so there was no need to retract the certification.”

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