Editing Virtual channel (section)

===Japan===

Digital terrestrial TV broadcasters in each region are allocated a "remote control key ID" (or, "remocon key ID"), numbered from 1 to 12.<ref>{{cite book|author=Association of Radio Industries and Businesses|authorlink=Association of Radio Industries and Businesses|date=2006|url=http://www.arib.or.jp/english/html/overview/doc/8-TR-B14v2_8-3p3-E2.pdf|title=ARIB Technical Report TR-B14 version 2.8: Operational Guidelines for Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (official English translation, Fascicle 3)|chapter=Volume 7: Provisions for Carrier Operations|accessdate=1 September 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710130221/http://www.arib.or.jp/english/html/overview/doc/8-TR-B14v2_8-3p3-E2.pdf|archive-date=10 July 2011}}</ref> Remote control ID allocations for broadcasters outside the [[Kanto region]] generally follow their Tokyo-based network flagships; however, some stations in some prefectures deviate from this. This system is limited to 16 broadcasters per region.

Each underlying channel is then assigned a three-digit number, which is based on their assigned remote control ID, followed by the sub-channel number. For example, [[NHK Educational TV]] is assigned remote control ID 2 (nationwide). Their primary channel is therefore assigned virtual channel 021. If the broadcaster multichannels (of which the [[ISDB-T]] standard allows up to three [[standard-definition]] streams), the additional streams would be assigned virtual channels 022 and 023, respectively. Standards allow for a maximum of eight virtual channels per broadcaster (in this example 021-028).

Additional datacasting services use virtual channels in the 200–799 range – in this example, the network could use the 22x, 42x and 62x ranges.