Respect for Human Rights | Sustainability Initiatives

WOWOW's corporate philosophy is to "contribute to human well-being and the creation of a rich culture through entertainment services".

We believe that "Human well-being and the creation of a rich culture" is only possible when there is a fundament of respect for human rights and can only be achieved when human rights are ensured.

We strongly believe that entertainment should never come at the expense of anybody, and as such, we support international human rights standards and respect the human rights articulated therein. We are committed to not causing, contributing to, or being linked through business relationships to any negative impacts on human rights. We will continue efforts and drive improvements to identify, prevent, and mitigate negative impacts on human rights, and take corrective actions when negative impacts through our business activities are identified.

At the same time, we believe that delivering new value to our customers is only possible when diverse individuals involved in our business activities can feel that they can be themselves and are safe in the knowledge that they can work together with mutual respect for each other's individuality. Thus, we are committed to fostering a corporate culture in which "DEI" permeates. "DEI" is an acronym of the following three words.

Diversity
Equity
Inclusion

We aspire to earn the trust of our stakeholders and society by contributing to a society where everybody can flourish in their own right

WOWOW INC.
Representative Director, President & CEO
Hitoshi Yamamoto

Policy on Human Rights and DEI

Principles of Approach and Pursuit of Standards

The WOWOW group ("our Group") recognizes its social responsibility and mission as an entertainment company and is committed to respecting human rights in all business activities, and to not causing, contributing to, or being linked to negative impacts on human rights through its businesses or services.
We support the "International Bill of Human Rights" (the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and the "International Covenants on Human Rights"), the "International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work", the "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises", and the "United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" as international human rights standards, and will promote respect for human rights as stipulated in these documents.
In cases where local laws and policies conflict with these international standards, we will work to meet these international standards to the greatest extent possible.

Human Rights Due Diligence

In order to fulfill our responsibility regarding human rights, we will work with third-party experts to identify issues and establish risk assessment items in our business activities to eliminate and prevent human rights violations and negative impacts within our business activities.
We will continuously work to identify and improve practices to deter human rights violations, through measures such as internal regulation revisions, contractual term updates with our business partners, and educational activities.
We will continuously evaluate human rights risks in our business activities and will work to correct and improve problem areas through continuous dialogue with our stakeholders.

Remedies for Negative Impacts on Human Rights

In cases where our Group causes, or contributes to human rights violations or negative impacts on human rights, we will work to correct or remedy such violation or impact through appropriate measures to fulfill our responsibility to respect human rights.
In cases where our Group is not directly causing or contributing to violations or negative impacts on human rights, but is linked to such negative impacts through its businesses or services, we will engage with the relevant business partners and/or other relevant parties to take appropriate action to ensure respect for human rights.
We will establish a grievance reporting mechanism for concerns related to human rights within the Group's business activities, and will respond in accordance with our risk management process.

A Work Environment that Recognizes Human Rights Respect and DEI

We respect the diverse individuality of all employees working within our Group, and also of all those working with us in our business activities. We respect differences in individual values, perspectives, preferences and experiences, as well as differences based on race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, origin, language, creed, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, health status, and presence or absence of disabilities. We do not tolerate any discrimination, prejudice, mental or physical harassment or inhumane treatment.
We aim to build an environment where all individuals associated with our business activities can work safely, healthily, and vibrantly.
We prohibit all forms of forced labor, human trafficking, and illegal child labor within our Group's business activities, and will work to correct and eradicate labor practices that violate human rights.
We are committed to creating a work environment where diverse values and individualities are mutually recognized, and people feel safe to express themselves. We aim to generate value through diversity by building a culture and environment that ensures diversity, inclusiveness, and equity.
We will continue to be conscious of diversity in hiring, and will evaluate, promote, and appoint employees based on their demonstrated abilities and experience.
We believe that policies such as flexibility in working hours and working locations allow diverse employees to continue work in various situations and at various stages of their lives, and will revisit regulations and consider exceptions and adjustments according to the individual needs of our employees.

Recognizing Human Rights and DEI in Our Entertainment

As an entertainment company, we recognize our social responsibility and mission to respect human rights in the entertainment we create and will not promote discrimination in the entertainment we produce.
We aim to create entertainment that delivers fresh emotion through new perspectives and stories that have never been depicted, by being conscious of diversity within our production teams.
We are aware that stereotypical casting, depiction of stereotypes and biased representation of minorities can foster discrimination, prejudice, and unconscious bias and as such will avoid such portrayal.
We commit to be conscious of on-screen diversity in both the content we acquire and the content we produce, so that we reflect diversity of society in the entertainment we deliver.
We promote our human rights initiatives as stipulated in this policy in various guidelines such as the WOWOW Program Production Guidelines and our Content Standard Handbook.

Respecting Human Rights of our Customers and Aiming for Better Accessibility

We respect the human rights of our Group's customers.
We are committed to ensure that the services our Group provides do not violate the human rights of our customers.
We will endeavor to improve accessibility to the information and services we offer in areas such as television broadcasting, online video distribution, events, websites, promotional media, and customer support so that more customers can enjoy our services without experiencing a feeling of exclusion.
We are committed to listen to input from our diverse customers, and acknowledge areas where certain needs have not been accommodated, and strive for continuous improvement.

Cultivating a Culture of Human Rights Respect and DEI

We will continuously update our knowledge and perspectives on human rights and DEI through measures such as training, information sharing and workshops to ensure that the spirit of respect for human rights and DEI is instilled within our Group.
We actively seek for our business partners to understand this philosophy so that we can cultivate insights of important human rights issues together.

Scope of this policy

This policy applies to all executives and employees in all forms of employment within our Group.

Human Rights Initiatives

In alignment with the above-mentioned Human Rights and DEI Policies, we collaborated with third party human rights experts to identify human rights risks within the Group's business activities based on risks pointed out by international organizations and NGO, real cases in the entertainment industry, interviews with our employees and responses to anonymous employee questionnaires. We then identified significant risks based on both the likelihood and severity of risks.
Important human rights risks identified include the following:

Risk of workplace harassment and discrimination
Risk of labor issues in the supply chain, such as long working hours and overwork
Risk of serious human rights violations by business partners (including talent agencies)
Risk of discriminatory or unethical expressions in content

In order to prevent and mitigate the potential negative impact on human rights represented by these risks, we will conduct training programs to enhance understanding of human rights, develop policies and processes designed to identify and prevent negative impact, and monitor and manage our value chain as a whole.