Digitalized terrestrial broadcasts in Japan are scheduled to begin in December 2003 in three metropolitan areas: Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Sometime before 2006, broadcast service areas will expand to cover the entire country. To view digitalized terrestrial broadcasts on existing TV units, users will need to install and connect a special tuner and a UHF antenna. For the time being, TV stations will transmit programs via simultaneous digital and conventional analog broadcast systems. Government plans call for the termination of analog broadcasts in July 2011.

One of the primary factors underlying the Japanese government's backing of digitalized terrestrial broadcasting is the system's more efficient use of available radio frequencies. Digital broadcasts will allow compression to 2/3 of the bandwidth currently required for analog TV broadcasts, freeing the remaining 1/3 for other communications and broadcasting services.