On April 30, 1993, a group led by former Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (now Mizuho Bank) employee Tetsuo Fujimori founded the Tokyo Metropolitan Television Broadcasting Corporation to construct a fifth commercial television station that would be licensed to Tokyo. The station received its license on October 13, 1995, and began test transmissions two days later under the name MX-TV. MX-TV signed on the air on November 1, 1995, at 4:00 JST with a 14-hour long introductory program entitled "Countdown MX Television" (カウントダウンMXテレビ, Kauntodaun MX Terebi); regular broadcast commenced at 18:00 JST that same day.
The station's first executive producer was Yoshihiko Muraki, a former producer at TV Man Union, a production company related to TBS. Inspired by the New York-focused news channel NY1, Muraki wanted to differentiate the station from its longer established competitors by dedicating 12 hours of programming daily to rolling news, and the rest to alternative programming focusing on the Tokyo region. The news programming, under the name Tokyo News (東京NEWS), revolutionised Japanese TV news by introducing the concept of video journalism, in which the station's journalists recorded, produced, and edited their stories, alongside reporting on them. These 12 hours of news were divided into 5 daily blocks: morning, noon, evening, night, and overnight. It also offered reports live from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, and the Telecom Center building, where the station's original headquarters were housed.
The station suffered in its first years for a poor signal and heavy management disputes. Some of the shareholders lacked any kind of TV broadcasting experience, and scandals arose over the operation and shareholding structure of the broadcaster. Additionally, its analog signal from Tokyo Tower did not cover the entire region, with their signal being poor in the eastern-most parts of the city. As the struggles continued, Muraki resigned in June 1996, and station VP and General Manager Kazuo Kinumura was dismissed that following August. In September, the station's Programming Committee resigned. Shortly thereafter, and in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, the station began to suffer from serious economic problems.[2]
The crisis began to be sorted by June 1997, after FM Tokyo stepped up and bought a controlling stake at the broadcaster. As part of the transaction, FM Tokyo's president Wataru Goto and Odakyu Electric Railway chairman Tsutomu Shimizu were appointed as president and vice president. Goto and Shimizu decided to drop the ambitious news format and reposition the channel as a more generalist broadcaster with a strong local focus. Although news programming was retained, albeit in a reduced form and in a more traditional format, the station began adding more entertainment programming, including locally oriented variety shows and coverage of local sports, as well as late-night anime, and infomercials during off-peak timeslots. This improved the station's ratings and finances, and the company became profitable by 2002.[3]
Tokyo Metropolitan Television old headquarters (1995–2006): Telecom Center Building
On December 12, 2000, MX-TV was rebranded as Tokyo MX Television (東京MXテレビ, Tōkyō MX Terebi). The station commenced its digital terrestrial television signal on December 1, 2003, and would rebrand as Tokyo MX in July 2006, after moving to new headquarters in the Chiyoda ward. These moves would ultimately hamper, once again, the station's finances, but the launch of digital terrestrial broadcasts would allow the station's signal to be in a par with its competitors and allowing more viewers to see their programming. Ultimately, the station would recover from these financial difficulties by 2011.
Tokyo MX shut down its analog broadcasts on July 24, 2011. It launched transmissions from the Tokyo Skytree on August 27, 2012, increasing their broadcasting footprint to cover the immediate outskirts of Tokyo city; the station also established a street-side studio in the building where variety programmes are broadcast. As a result of this, Tokyo MX stopped broadcasting its signal from the Tokyo Tower on May 12, 2013.
A second channel, Tokyo MX2, began broadcasting in April 2014. The channel operates on the second sub-channel of Tokyo MX1 and is primarily dedicated to alternative programming.
The station celebrated its 20th anniversary on November 1, 2015.
Fuji Television Network, Inc., also known as Fuji Television or Fuji TV, with the call sign JOCX-DTV, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). Fuji Television is one of the ''five private broadcasters based in Tokyo''.
TBS Holdings, Inc., formerly Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc., is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network TBS Television and radio network TBS Radio. It has a 28-affiliate television network called Japan News Network, as well as a 34-affiliate radio network called Japan Radio Network.
JOTX-DTV, branded as TV Tokyo, is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network. It is owned and operated by TV Tokyo Corporation, itself a subsidiary of TV Tokyo Holdings Corporation, in turn a subsidiary of Nikkei, Inc. It is headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. TV Tokyo is one of the five private broadcasters based in Tokyo, and the last to have started its broadcasts on VHF.
The mass media in Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on capital investments by existing radio networks. Variety shows, serial dramas, and news constitute a large percentage of Japanese evening shows.
The Japan News Network is a Japanese commercial television network run by TBS Television, owned by TBS Holdings. The network's responsibility includes the syndication of national television news bulletins to its regional affiliates, and news exchange between the stations. Its affiliate stations also broadcast non-news programs originating from TBS Television. Founded on 1 August 1959, JNN is made up of 28 full-time affiliates.
The Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Corporation is a certified broadcasting holding company headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Until March 31, 2018, it was a unified radio and television broadcaster serving in the Kansai region. On April 1, 2018, its radio and television broadcasting divisions were spun off into two subsidiaries, with Asahi Radio Broadcasting Corporation taking over the radio broadcasting business, and Asahi Television Broadcasting Corporation took over television broadcasting.
Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc., or MBS, is a radio and television broadcasting company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, affiliated with Japan Radio Network (JRN), National Radio Network (NRN), Japan News Network (JNN) and TBS Network, serving in the Kansai region.
JOIX-DTV, branded as Yomiuri TV, is the Kansai region flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned by the Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation subsidiary of the eponymous Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, Japan's largest media conglomerate; Yomiuri TV forms part of Yomiuri's main television broadcasting arm alongside Kantō region flagship Nippon TV, which owns a 15.89% share in the company. Founded as New Osaka Television Co. on February 13, 1958, and renamed Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation on August 1, the station started broadcasting on August 28 as the first TV station to be affiliated with Nippon Television Network Corporation. Its studios are located in the Osaka Business Park district of Osaka.
Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. is a television station in Nagoya, Japan serving as an affiliate of the TX Network. TVA started broadcasting in 1983. Nikkei, Inc. is the biggest shareholder of TVA.
In Japan, late-night anime refers to anime series broadcast on television during the night, usually between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. JST.
Television Saitama Co., Ltd. abbreviated TVS, doing business as Teletama is a Japanese fee-free terrestrial commercial television broadcasting company headquartered in Urawa-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its intended coverage is Saitama Prefecture but with some spill-overs in surrounding prefectures. Teletama is an "independent" terrestrial television station, which means not belonging to any major national networks keyed in Tokyo and Osaka. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS) and co-produces, exchanges programs and sells advertising opportunity with other members.
The Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations is a group of Japan's reception fee-free commercial terrestrial television stations which are not members of the major national television networks. The association was established on 4 November 1977.
Television in Japan was introduced in 1939. However, experiments date back to the 1920s, with Kenjiro Takayanagi's pioneering experiments in electronic television. Television broadcasting was halted by World War II, after which regular television broadcasting began in 1950. After Japan developed the first HDTV systems in the 1960s, MUSE/Hi-Vision was introduced in the 1970s.
Television Nishinippon Corporation is a Japanese TV station affiliated with Fuji News Network (FNN) and Fuji Network System (FNS) in Fukuoka. This station serves Fukuoka Prefecture and also acts as the default FNN affiliate for western portions of Yamaguchi Prefecture including Yamaguchi City and Shimonoseki, as Yamaguchi Prefecture does not have an FNN affiliate of its own.
JORX-DTV, branded as TBS Television, is the Kantō region flagship station of the Japan News Network. It is owned-and-operated by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc., a subsidiary of TBS Holdings. TBS Television is one of the ''five private broadcasters based in Tokyo''.
Nippon Television Network Corporation, also known as Nippon TV, with the call sign JOAX-DTV, is a Japanese commercial broadcast television network. It is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company Nippon Television Holdings, Inc. and also the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System.
TV Asahi Corporation, commonly abbreviated as Tere Asa (テレ朝), with the call sign JOEX-DTV, is a Japanese television station subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company TV Asahi Holdings Corporation, itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Company serving as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. Its studios are located in Roppongi, Minato Ward, Tokyo. TV Asahi is one of the five private broadcasters based in Tokyo.
Events in 1964 in Japanese television.
JOOY-DTV, virtual channel 4, branded as MBS TV, is the Kansai region key station of the Japan News Network, owned by Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc.
1Closed since October 2018 alongside its radio operations.[1] Currently available on satellite TV only
↑ "放送大学の地上波放送が9月30日終了。BS完全移行でHD/SD 2ch同時放送"[Terrestrial broadcasting of the Open University of Japan will end on September 30, 2018, with the full transition to satellite broadcasting.]. AV Watch (in Japanese). 2018-03-02. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
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