A telecom ministry panel proposed on Friday limiting the scope of information provided online by NHK for the next three years, ministry sources said.

The proposal is aimed at protecting similar businesses in the private sector, ministry officials said.

The study group charged with examining the broadcasting policies of the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said in a report that NHK should only post segments of already-aired programs and information on its Web site.

Online services of this kind should be secondary and supplementary to NHK's main broadcasting operations, the panel said.

The panel also said it would be inappropriate for NHK to produce programs exclusively for the Internet and proposed setting a limit on the public broadcaster's online budget, the officials said.

NHK program segments should be offered on its Web site for only about a week after the programs are aired, and the broadcaster should limit this coverage to programs on topics such as education, welfare and medical services for the time being, the report says.

The panel also said NHK and the ministry should compile guidelines to govern the broadcaster's Internet services and to determine how many of its subsidiaries will play a part in its online business.

The panel said it is acceptable for NHK to sell its online content to corporations or business entities to help expand the Internet market. It expressed reservations, however, over allowing NHK to sell its online content to individual viewers, the officials said.