About

DAZN Japan history, coverage, features

DAZN launched its OTT subscription service in Japan in August 2016. At the time, subscribers could enjoy the platform’s complete coverage of live sports events in HD for 1,750 JPY (16 USD), with the first month of subscription offered for free.

DAZN made its entry in the Asian market following a 10-season rights deal between the Japan Professional Football League and the then-operators of the service, Perform Group. This granted DAZN online rights to the J1, J2 and J3 leagues from 2017 to 2026, making all matches from all leagues available to watch live for the first time in Japan.

Operations in Japan for DAZN also started with total live coverage of the German Bundesliga, as well as online broadcasts of the English FA Cup, French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A and FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

More on DAZN networks

DAZN is a subscription-based OTT sports streaming service with thousands of hours of live events every year, covering multiple sports disciplines, including football. It provides catch-up and on-demand services as well, and supports a wide range of devices from different platforms.

It is owned and operated by DAZN Group, formerly known as Perform Group until September 2018, when the global sports media company was split into two brands—namely DAZN Group and Perform Content.

Dubbed as the “Netflix of Sports”, DAZN has constantly been enriching its team of leading members, in attempts to enter newer markets and deepen their existing sports coverage. It operates offices in London, Berlin, and Tokyo, among other cities around the world.

With its focus being on providing comprehensive sports streaming services across many regions, DAZN boasts a massive portfolio of TV rights. It has retained exclusive broadcast deals to some of football’s largest club competitions and international tournaments, whereas other aspects of their coverage have come as results of sub-license deals involving other broadcasters.

Some of the important games DAZN has managed to stream since its launch in various markets include live UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Women’s Champions League matches in Europe. On the international scene, its history of live football streaming includes coverage around the FIFA Club World Cup, CAF Champions League and Copa Libertadores.

It has successfully participated in the online coverage of international events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, CONCACAF Gold Cup and UEFA Euro Qualifiers. Broadcast rights it has secured for its online and mobile platforms have included top European leagues and domestic competitions, such as the Spanish La Liga, Spanish Copa del Rey, English Premier League, English FA Cup, French Ligue 1, Italian Serie A, Portuguese Primeira Liga, J1 League, Chinese Super League, and the American Major League Soccer.

Airing over 8,000 sports events on PC, Mac, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs and game consoles every year, fans of other sports have also had access to high-quality streams live and on demand. Other disciplines regularly available on DAZN include American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Cricket, Motorsport, Rugby and Tennis.

In most territories in which DAZN operates, streams of live football (soccer) matches are usually available on demand after the match has been originally aired. This may however not apply to all competitions. In markets where broadcast rights are shared with other broadcasters, the live feed may be taken from a partner network. For all streams, subscribers have the ability to play, pause and rewind, and are exempt from commercial interruptions. Due to rights restrictions, nevertheless, broadcast rights secured by a DAZN network in a specific territory may not necessarily be inherited by sister networks in other countries.

Regarding streaming on mobile devices, DAZN supports all models of the Fire HD from the 4th Generation and above, which means that streams are available for 6-inch screens and larger. For Android phones and tablets, Android version 4.4 is required. Android TV users are recommended to keep their device up to date as well for a smooth streaming experience.

Users on iOS are compelled to use at least iPhone 5 or the 6th Gen of the iPod Touch–or if they are on tablets, iPad 4 or newer is required. All devices must run at least iOS 10. Mirroring of streams by connecting iPhones and iPads to TVs via HDMI or AirPlay is also possible.

Early in 2019, DAZN updated its Apple TV app to add a multi-view option. This feature enables owners of fourth-generation Apple TVs or Apple TV 4Ks to watch up to four streams simultaneously. The first to third generation of Apple TVs are not supported by the service.

For Amazon Fire TV, DAZN requires anything from the first generation or above, the second generation or newer for Fire TV 4K, or any Amazon Fire TV Stick. Viewers wanting to cast the streams from their smartphones to their TVs via Chromecast are recommended to have a USB power source on their smart TV that states 5V1a or 5V 0.5a, to be guaranteed that DAZN will work as expected.

Subscribers with LG Smart TVs can download the DAZN app from the LG Content Store; however, accepted webOS models start from 2015. Options are plentiful for Panasonic TV users, as DAZN supports over 100 models from 2014 and beyond. Samsung Smart TV owners in eligible territories are in a similar position, with all models from 2015 onwards being compatible with the app version available in the Samsung app store.

HiSense Smart TV users may enjoy DAZN streams on models from 2018, at least. For subscribers in Germany and Austria, DAZN content may be accessed through their Sky Q boxes. Game console users are advised to download the DAZN app for both Sony PlayStation and Xbox. Supported models for these devices include PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One, Xbox One S and Xbox One X.

Minimum internet download speed requirements to stream DAZN in SD on smartphones is 2.0 Mbps. For HD quality, 3.5 Mbps is needed, or 6.0 Mbps if streaming is on a TV. For optimal quality and high frame rates, nonetheless, DAZN recommends at least 8.0 Mbps. Virtual Private Networks (VPN) or proxy servers are not supported.

On PC, subscribers may choose to stream directly from their browser, using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge—or Safari on Mac. Microsoft Internet Explorer users are expected to use at least Version 11.

Pub owners in Germany may request for access to dedicated DAZN channels HD1 & 2, as these are reserved for commercial purpose and sold via Sky Deutschland. Individual users have room for more flexibility in their subscriptions, which may include cross-border portability. DAZN offers the latter as a special feature for subscribers in select countries, allowing them to take their home subscription across borders while travelling within the EU.