Jme.TV (pronounced Jay-mee), the exclusive North American streaming provider of NHK content, will offer a fourth channel exclusively for sumo content just in time for the May tournament. Two hours of live sumo will be available via the NHK World Premium channel and repeats of that sumo action (with English audio) will be streamed four times daily on the new channel. The service is described the image to the right. Tachiai welcomes this development from NHK Cosmomedia and their NHK parent company, unreservedly.

In the past, JapanTV was the only legitimate source of live sumo coverage in North America. That service required a cable subscription. In my experience, if you wanted TV in High Definition, that required extra bundles beyond the basic cable. Ultimately, I would be left subsiziding 500 channels I’d never watch just for one show or one channel.

JME was launched this year to replace the old JapanTV option with a streaming capability, direct to consumers at $25/mo. This effectively shutdown JapanTV at the beginning of April 2024. I don’t use Roku or Amazon Fire and I don’t watch via apps on my phone but those options are available. I have heard some users have complained about the fact that the new service is streamed and is not their usual cable package. To those who complain, I ask how many of their three remote controls do they use? And do they hate it when luddites like myself come over to visit and push the wrong “ON” button on the wrong remote to turn on the TV? (My daughter usually has fix my parents’ cable set up after I destroy it.) All of those remotes and all of those buttons when you probably use five, max.

There are three streaming channels as well as an “on-demand” option for various Japanese television series. Two of the channels are in Japanese and the third is the “NHK World” service that we were most familiar with. Jme Select is NHK content shifted for North American timezones. NHK Premium is Japanese with some programming (including live sumo) having English audio available. NHK World is…well..NHK World, the NHK’s English language channel. Until recently that had been available via broadcast in the MHZ networks. The new, sumo only channel is a welcome development!

For cord-cutters like myself, this has been quite the encouraging development, especially since the content is AD-FREE. We will continue to advocate for more sumo coverage. That case will be made easier with rapid uptake of the new streaming service. Let’s face it, if they see impressive viewer numbers on the exclusive sumo channel it’s my hope that they expand viewership to Juryo and the lower divisions and maybe even “off-season” special events, like retirement ceremonies and Jungyo.

I encourage viewers to comment here with their unfiltered reviews of the service. I started watching on senshuraku in March. Senshuraku offers 2.5 hours of live coverage which is a bit more than the 2 hours of day-to-day coverage. That is enough to watch makuuchi, no VPN or illicit stream needed. I’ve been a casual viewer of the service in the off-season, mostly of the news. But I have definitely found a few Japanese dramas and comedies to watch as I try to improve my own language skills. There have been a few bugs and glitches, generally quickly resolved. Earlier this week, the schedule for one of the channels was unavailable in the usual location but that was fixed. What has been your experience so far?