Fuji Media Holdings Exec Hisashi Hieda Resigns from Committee as Broadcast Revenue Plummets

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:37 JST, February 28, 2025

Hisashi Hieda, the executive managing adviser of Fuji Media Holdings, Inc., has resigned as an in-house member of the company’s management advisory committee, the company said Thursday.

Fuji Media Holdings is the parent company of Fuji Television Network, Inc. (Fuji TV). Both are part of Fujisankei Communications Group, for which Hieda serves as the chairman.

The management advisory committee makes suggestions on matters related to the holding company’s management and personnel to the board of directors.

Osamu Kanemitsu, the holding company’s president, that same day met reporters after a regular meeting of the board of directors and spoke about how the appointment of executives may change going forward.

“I’d like to make progress on implementing various measures, such as making the structure [of the company’s board of directors] more compact and lowering the average age,” Kanemitsu said.

The president also revealed that Hieda has been hospitalized for a lower back fracture following a fall at his home last weekend.

Kenji Shimizu, the president of Fuji TV, also spoke to the press after a regular meeting of the TV company’s board of directors on Thursday. He reported progress on the revitalization and reform project Fuji TV launched in the wake of the sex scandal involving former entertainer Masahiro Nakai.

Under the project, the company has toughened penalties for human rights and other violations and drawn up guidelines on dinner and other meetings. The guidelines require those having business meetings to report to their superiors on the participants, purposes and other details of the meetings.

Meanwhile, as many as 311 companies and organizations have apparently replaced their commercials on Fuji TV with public announcements by the Advertising Council of Japan as of the end of January. As a result, the company’s broadcasting revenue in February has plummeted to less than 10% of that in the same month last year.