Japan has asked the organizer of the World Baseball Classic, which sold exclusive rights to Netflix to broadcast the 2026 tournament in Japan, to consider ways to allow more people to watch the event in the future.

Education and sports minister Yohei Matsumoto also told a regular news conference Friday that the ministry and the communications ministry would?jointly establish an expert panel to discuss sports broadcasts.

¡°It is extremely important for a wide range of people to have the opportunity to experience and watch sports,¡± Matsumoto said, adding that he sent a letter urging organizers of the WBC and the Olympics to be considerate on those points.

The WBC is owned by Major League Baseball and jointly operates the quadrennial tournament with the Major League Baseball Players Association. The WBC is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

Before and during the WBC held in March, many people complained about not being able to watch Samurai Japan unless they subscribed to Netflix.

Unlike many other countries, the majority of top sporting events ¡ª including the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and previous editions of the WBC ¡ª are broadcast free on major networks in Japan.

Others said it was inevitable due to the skyrocketing broadcasting rights for international sports events and the shift to subscription-based broadcasting.

During the WBC, many sports fans gathered at restaurants and bars to share their Netflix feeds and watch together on smartphones and tablets. Sports bars largely refrained from showing the games, as Netflix said its services are limited to customers¡¯ ¡°personal, noncommercial use.¡±

In a survey released in March by Sanno University¡¯s Sports Management Research Center, 63.4% of 1,000 respondents said they wanted to watch the games on broadcast TV. Of those surveyed, 11.5% said they subscribed to Netflix in order to watch the WBC, of which 27% had plans to continue their subscriptions.

The survey showed 67.5% did not subscribe to Netflix during the WBC and opted to keep up to date on the tournament in other ways. More than 71% of the respondents did not watch any of the games in real time, due in part to Netflix¡¯s exclusive broadcast deal, the survey said.

Japan, which won the previous WBC in 2023, was knocked out in the quarterfinals after an 8-5 loss to eventual champion Venezuela.

When the university conducted a similar survey after the 2023 WBC ¡ª when Japan beat the U.S. in a dramatic championship game ¡ª 85.5% said they got excited talking about the WBC, compared with 35.5% this year.