JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as Nippon Television (日本テレビ) (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System. It is owned and operated by the Nippon Television Network Corporation (日本テレビ放送網株式会社), a wholly owned subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company Nippon Television Holdings (日本テレビホールディングス株式会社)
Nippon Television's studios are in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and its transmitters are in the Tokyo Skytree.Broadcasting on channel four since its inception, it was the first commercial broadcaster in Asia, and broadcasts terrestrially across Japan. Nippon Television is the home of the syndication networks NNN (for news programs) and NNS (for non-news programs). Except for Okinawa Prefecture, these two networks cover the whole of Japan. Nippon Television is one of the "five private broadcasters based in Tokyo".
With 14.45% of the company's shares, Nippon Television Holdings is partially owned by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings – Japan's largest media conglomerate by revenue domestically, and second largest worldwide behind Sony.It forms part of Yomiuri's main television broadcasting arm alongside Kansai region flagship Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, which owns a 6.57% share in the company.It owns Hulu Japan
location
6-1, Higashi-Shimbashi Itchome
location city
Minato, Tokyo
location country
Japan
area served
Japan, Asia, United States, Western Europe
key people
Yoshikuni Sugiyama (Chairman and CEO) ‡R1R‡ Hiroyuki Fukuda (President and COO) ‡R2R‡
industry
Media
services
Broadcast television and radio
owner
The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings (14.45%)
YTV (6.57%)
Yomiuri Shimbun Tokyo (6.11%)
Other shareholders:
Teikyo University (3.66%)
NTT Docomo (2.98%)
Recruit Holdings (2.47%)
Yomiuri Land (2.00%)
Chūkyō Television Broadcasting (2.00%)
Investment accounts (4.3% total)
revenue
¥326,423 million (FY2012)
¥305,460 million (FY2011)
operating income
¥35,429 million (FY2012)
¥32,249 million (FY2011)
net income
¥25,284 million (FY2012)
¥22,729 million (FY2011)
assets
¥598,075 million (FY2012)
¥543,228 million (FY2011)
equity
¥488,120 million (FY2012)
¥446,038 million (FY2011)
num employees
3,259 (as of March 31, 2013, consolidated)
subsid
Nippon Television Network Corporation
AX-ON Inc.
BS Nippon Corporation
CS Nippon Corporation
Nippon Television-News 24 Corporation
VAP
NTV Events
Nippon Television Music Corporation
Nippon Television Art
NTV Technical Resources
RF Radio Nippon Co. Ltd.
ClaN Entertainment
Tatsunoko Production (55.2%)
Hulu
In 1951, US SenatorKarl Mundt (known as the key proponent of Voice of America) announced that commercial television would be set up in Japan, then under United States-led AlliedOccupation of Japan.According to Japanese-Canadian writer Benjamin Fulford, Mundt recommended Matsutarō Shōriki to the CIA, which later hired Shōriki as an agent under the codenames "podam" and "pojackpot-1".With executives of The Asahi Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, Shōriki persuaded Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida to form a commercial television network in Japan.[3]
On July 31, 1952, Nippon Television was granted the first commercial TV broadcasting license in Japan.[4] The Nippon Television Network Corporation was established in October of that year.[5] After obtaining the broadcasting license, Nippon Television purchased land for the construction of its headquarters building (now the Kojimachi branch office) in Nibanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and began preparations for the broadcast of TV programs.[4] Due to equipment delivery delays, broadcasting trials were significantly delayed, resulting in NHK being first to broadcast TV programs.[4] On August 24, 1953, Nippon Television started broadcast trials,[4] and four days later, began to air programs as Asia's first commercial broadcaster.It used an animated dove spreading its wings in the logo on its first sign-on.[4][5] The first TV commercial (for Seikosha clocks) was aired at that time; reports say it aired upside-down by mistake.[6]
Due to high prices, television sets were not widely available at the launch of NTV and NHK. In an effort to broaden advertisement impact, NTV installed 55 street TVs in the Kanto area.[4] This program was a huge success, attracting 8,000 to 10,000 people to watch sports broadcasts such as professional baseball and sumo wrestling.[4]
Plans for expansion to the whole of Japan were halted, as NTV's license was restricted to the Kanto area.[7] As a result, the Yomiuri Shimbun Group filed for a separate license in Osaka under the name Yomiuri TV.[4]
In 1955, Shōriki stepped down as president of NTV after being elected to the House of Representatives.[4] The election was the first to be covered by commercial TV in Japan.[8]
Nippon News Network and launch of color broadcasts
With the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issuing a large number of new TV licenses in the late 1950s, Yomiuri Shimbun and Nippon Television began to establish stations outside the Kanto area.[4] On August 28, 1958, Yomiuri TV started broadcasting, marking the start of expansion into the Kansai area.[4] Due to the close partnership between Nippon TV and the Yomiuri Shimbun, the network's expansion was opposed by local newspapers, and slower than that of the Japan News Network affiliates, which were less newspaper-oriented.[7] Before 1958, NTV's programming was seen on CBC and OTV, whose television broadcasts began on December 1, 1956.The four commercial television stations that existed at the time broadcast a special program called The Coming Year, which ran until the end of the Shōwa era. Until the last edition, production rotated between the main Kanto stations.
On the fifth anniversary of NTV's launch, Yomiuri TV and Television Nishinippon started broadcasting; Nishinippon Broadcasting, which started earlier, created a precursor of the
1970s–1980s
When Kobayashi Shōriki (son-in-law of Matsutarō Shōriki) took over Nippon TV in 1969, he continued progress in color broadcasting.[4] In April 1970, color programs accounted for 76.4% of total broadcast time, ahead of NHK which was second with 73%.[4] In October 1971, all Nippon TV programs were in color.[4]
During this period, due to economic depression and the discovery of the falsification of financial reports by the Ministry of Finance, Nippon TV was in recession.[7] Ratings of other Japanese commercial TV stations also declined during that period, from competing with Fuji TV for second place in the core bureau for most of the 1960s to competing with Fuji Television and NET TV (currently TV Asahi), and then being pulled away from TBS.[4]
1990s
Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli, Inc. designed Nippon Television's mascot character Nandarō (なんだろう) to commemorate the channel's 40th anniversary in 1993.[12]
Although ratings of Nippon TV affiliates increased, advertising revenue decreased in 1992 due to the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble.[7] After Seiichiro Ujiie, a former journalist at the Yomiuri Shimbun, became president of Nippon TV, the broadcaster carried out major changes in its programming to boost ratings,[7] such as airing late night news programs earlier than competitors[7] and ending certain primetime variety shows.[7] These changes helped NTV become number one in ratings from 1993 to 1994, overtaking Fuji TV.
2000s–present
At the start of the 2000s, Nippon TV and its 29 affiliates won the triple crown ratings.[14] In December 2000, Nippon TV launched the satellite-exclusive channel BS NTV.[7] On April 30, 2003, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, Nippon TV held a completion ceremony at its headquarters in Shiodome, Tokyo, which had taken seven years to build.[7] In October 2000, employees of the network bribed surveyed households to increase their ratings, especially impacting ratings for baseball games.[15] Fuji TV took advantage of the incident when, becoming number one in ratings.[15] Nippon TV started digital broadcasting on December 1, 2003.[10] It moved to Shiodome in February 2004, and also started high-definition production.With the rising trend for internet services, Nippon TV launched Dai2 Nippon TV, the first video-on-demand service from a commercial broadcaster in Japan.
Branding
When Nippon Television started in 1953, its English acronym "NTV" was used as its first corporate logo; a colored version was used starting in 1972 after the launch of color broadcasting. The logo was designed by Shōjirō Takada, an assistant professor at Tokyo University of the Arts.[7] In 2003, Nippon TV launched a new corporate logo with the introduction of the broadcaster's mascot Nandarō.[36] The orange dot in the 2003 logo represented the sun, and the character "日" in gold represented tradition.It was designed by Jun'ichi Fumura, an employee of the broadcaster.[7] On January 1, 2013, Nippon TV changed its logo as part of its 60th anniversary, with the "日" kanji changed to the number "0" with a diagonal line inside, to represent starting from zero and starting anew.[37] The change was inspired by the on-screen clock, usually located in the upper left corner of the screen.[38]
Mon logo
In 1978, as part of its 25th anniversary, Nippon Television introduced a mon in addition to the corporate trademark.[7] The logo was designed with the NTV's "sun" and the earth represented by the Mercator projection, symbolizing NTV's leading position in the television industry.[7]The logo is colored blue, representing clear skies.[7] It was designed by Masahiro Touzawa, an employee of the broadcaster.[7]
Mascots
On August 28, 1992, as part of its 40th anniversary, Nippon Television invited Hayao Miyazaki to design its first mascot.[39]
Affiliates
After the launch of Japan News Network in April 1960,[9] a new group of networks was supposed to be formed between Sendai Television, Nagoya TV, NTV, and Hiroshima Telecasting in 1962.[9] In 1963, Nishinippon Shimbun, a key shareholder of Television Nishinippon, disagreed with Yomiuri Shimbun's plans to expand in Fukuoka Prefecture.[9] This resulted in Television Nisihinippon withdrawing from Nippon TV and losing Nippon TV's local news base in Kyushu.[9] On April 1, 1966, Nippon News Network was formally launched with 19 founding members.[9]
The non-news counterpart of Nippon News Network, Nippon Television Network System, was formed on June 14, 1972.[4]
Sayonara Bokutachi no Youchien (さよならぼくたちのようちえん, 2011)
Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (この世界の片隅に, 2011)
Kaseifu no Mita (家政婦のミタ, 2011)
Himitsu Chouhouin Erika (秘密諜報員_エリカ, 2011)
Deka Kurokawa Suzuki (デカ_黒川鈴木, 2012)
Dirty Mama! (ダーティ・ママ!, 2012)
Konna no Idol Janain!? (こんなのアイドルじゃナイン!?, 2012)
2020s
Captured Hospital (2023)
Captured New Airport (2024)
Variety and music
Question for one hundred million people!? Waratte Koraete! (1億人の大質問!?笑ってコラえて!)
Guruguru Ninety Nine (Gurunai, ぐるぐるナインティナイン, ぐるナイ)
Sekaiichi Uketai Jugyo (世界一受けたい授業) (until March 2024)[43][44]
Enta no Kamisama ~the god of Entertainment~ (エンタの神様 ~the god of Entertainment~)
Sekai Marumie! TV Tokusoubu (世界まる見え!テレビ特捜部)
The! Tetsuwan! DASH!! (ザ!鉄腕!DASH!!)
Gyoretsu no dekiru Horitsu Sodanjo (行列の出来る法律相談所)
Shōten (笑点, continuously broadcast since May 1966).
Gaki no tsukai (DownTown's Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!, ガキの使いやあらへんで!!)
Cartoon KAT-TUN (カートゥンKAT-TUN, Kātūn Katūn?)
Former
Family Wisdom of the Itos (伊東家の食卓)
Nazo o toke! Masaka no Mistery (謎を解け!まさかのミステリー)
Magical Zunou Power!! (マジカル頭脳パワー!!) (1990s)
Tokujo! Tensei Shingo (特上!天声慎吾)
Dotch Cooking Show (どっちの料理ショー, Yomiuri Telecastiong Corp.)
Arashi no Shukudai-kun (嵐の宿題くん)
Arashi ni Shiyagare (嵐にしやがれ)
Animation
The company has close connections with Studio Ghibli, led by Hayao Miyazaki.Nippon TV has funded all of the company's productions since Kiki's Delivery Service (excluding Earwig and the Witch, which was fully funded by rival NHK) and holds the exclusive Japanese rights to broadcast their motion pictures.It has also produced and broadcast popular anime series like My Hero Academia, Claymore, Death Note, Hajime no Ippo, Magical Emi, the Magic Star and Kimagure Orange Road; as well as Detective Conan and Inuyasha (which are produced through its Osaka affiliate, Yomiuri TV).NTV produced the first, unsuccessful Doraemon
Special TV programs
Kin-chan and Shingo Katori's All Japan Costume Grand Prix (欽ちゃん&香取慎吾の全日本仮装大賞)
24 Hour Television: Love Saves The Earth (24時間テレビ「愛は地球を救う」, annual telethon on the TV stations of NNS). For 2024's edition, the theme of the program changed to "Will Love Save the Earth?" (24時間テレビ47 「愛は地球を救うのか？」), and 24 hosts were chosen instead of a main personality.[49]
Trans America Ultra Quiz (アメリカ横断ウルトラクイズ)
All Japan High School Quiz Championship (全国高等学校クイズ選手権)
Nippon Television Music Festival (日本テレビ音楽祭)
Notable person
Matsutarō Shōriki (founder)
List of most-watched films
The following is a list of the most-watched films of all time on NTV, as of June 2007.[50]
See also
Television in Japan
Japanese media
Hato no kyūjitsu (Dove's Day Off), NTV's station identification
50.Keiji Hamano, Hiroyuki Kitae, Shoji Udagawa, Yasuko Watanabe, Takashi Uchiyama. The Japanese Market for UK Films Cinema Alliance Limited, UK Film Council, British Film Institute, November 2007, retrieved 22 April 2022^
Nippon News Network
.
In December, when Tokai Television started broadcasting in the Tōkai region, NTV programs moved to the new station.
Following TBS Television's establishment of the Japan News Network in 1959,[9] Nippon Television founded the second Japanese television network, Nippon News Network, on April 1, 1966, with a 19 affiliated stations as founding members.[9] Nippon Television founded the Nippon Television Network System in 1972 to improve collaboration among network stations in non-news programming.[4] On September 15, 1959, Nippon Television's stock was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, becoming the first media company in Japan to list its stock.[4]
Nippon Television applied to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in April 1957 for a color television broadcast license, which it received in December of that year.[4] Matsutarō Shōriki returned to Nippon TV as president after resigning as the minister of state in 1958.[4] He increased investment in color television.In December 1958, NTV introduced videotape recording in a one-off drama series using American RCA 2-inch quad tape.
The first color live coverage broadcast in Japan was the wedding of the crown prince (now Emperor Emeritus Akihito) on April 10, 1959, together with the first TV program with commercials broadcast in color.[7][4] In December, NTV aired Japan's first color VTR broadcast, Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall from NBC (United States).NTV later obtained a license for broadcasting programs in color on September 10, 1960.[10] In one year, NTV aired a total of 938 hours of color programming.[4] Programs produced in black and white steadily decreased.
In October 1963, Nippon Television successfully trialed overnight broadcasts.[4] On November 22, 1963, using a communication satellite relay, NTV conducted the first black-and-white TV transmission experiment between Japan and the United States during coverage of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.[10] On July 1, 1966, The Beatles' concert at the Nippon Budokan, part of their Japanese tour, was shown in color on NTV (prerecorded on tape); the viewing rate reached 56 percent.[10]
After the death of Matsutaro Shoriki on October 9, 1969, NTV and NHK agreed to integrate signal transmission facilities in the Tokyo Tower.[4]
This led Kobayashi Shōriki to launch business reforms to promote the outsourcing of program productions
The non-news counterpart of Nippon News Network, Nippon Television Network System, was formed on June 14, 1972.[4] NTV had also been successful in exporting its programs around the world; programs such as The Water Margin and Monkey aired on the BBC in the UK.[7] On January 14, 1973, NTV aired the live satellite relay in Japan for Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii.Shown in two parts on October 8 and 15, 1975, the classic film Gone with the Wind made its world television premiere on NTV, 13 months before NBC aired it in North America.
Nippon TV started diversifying its operations, opening subsidiaries such as Nippon TV Music, Union Movies, and Nippon Television Services in the early 70s.[4]In the following years, Nippon TV participated in cultural events, such as the restoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 1984,[7]which took 13 years and cost to ¥2.4 billion;[7] it also held two special exhibitions at the Vatican Museums.[7] On March 9, 1984, Dan Goodwin used suction cups to climb the 10-floor Nippon Television Kojimachi Annex in Chiyoda in a paid publicity event.[11]
On the 25th anniversary of Nippon Television's first broadcast in 1978, the broadcaster launched 24 Hour Television: Love Saves The Earth.It was the only telethon on Japanese TV, and achieved high ratings; it continues to be aired today.[7] In the 1980s, ratings continued to decline as Fuji TV and TBS promoted their primetime programming.[7] This prompted NTV to increase the airtime of news programs and baseball events.[7]Multichannel television sound broadcasting began in December 1982, using the EIAJ MTS standard.In 1987, NTV launched NTV Cable News (now known as Nippon TV NEWS 24), the first news channel in Japan.[7]
Analog broadcasting ended on July 24, 2011, and NTV fully entered the digital TV era.[10] Also in 2011, Nippon TV regained the triple crown ratings after eight years, due to high ratings of the drama I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper.[17][18] In 2012 and 2013, the triple crown was taken by TV Asahi because of its primetime programming.[19] Nippon TV later regained the triple crown ratings in 2014.[20] As of 2022, Nippon TV has held the triple crown rating for 12 years.[21]
On April 26, 2012, the Nippon Television Network Preparatory Corporation was founded as part of a major reorganization.[22] On October 1, the Nippon Television Network Corporation became a certified broadcasting holding company, Nippon Television Holdings, Inc.; the Nippon Television Network Preparatory Corporation took over the Nippon Television Network Corporation name.
On February 1–2, 2013, Nippon TV collaborated with NHK to air a special program on the first TV broadcasts 60 years before. On February 27, 2014, Nippon TV acquired the Japanese division of Hulu, Hulu Japan.[23][24][25] The network started airing more programs exclusively on Hulu following its acquisition, which was criticized by viewers.[26]
In 2015, Nippon TV and the other four commercial broadcasters in Japan launched TVer, a free on-demand service.[27] In the fourth quarter of 2020, live online streaming of NTV started to be trialed on TVer.[28][29] In September 2020, Nippon TV and PricewaterhouseCoopers collaborated to create a system using artificial intelligence to predict audience ratings;[30] it was first trialed on its movie block Friday Roadshow.[31] In the fourth quarter of 2021, the broadcaster officially started live online streaming of its channel.Despite inclusion in trials the year before, the late-night news program News Zero and its succeeding program were excluded from streaming.[32]
On October 6, 2023, Nippon Television purchased a majority stake in Studio Ghibli; NTV began to handle management, while the studio continued to focus on creative efforts.[33][34][35]
The mascot was shaped like a mouse with the tail of a pig, symbolizing creativity, curiosity, and hard work.
A campaign was held for the audience to nominate names for the mascot, and 51,026 names were voted on.
The winning name was "Nandarō", literally translating to "What is it?"[7] The mascot was supposed to be used for one year only, but was used until 2013 due to audience popularity.
It was replaced by Da Bear, introduced in 2009.[7]
, which remains the franchise's broadcaster to this day.
As of now, NTV is producing a second anime adaptation of Hunter × Hunter.
NTV has also been broadcasting the yearly Lupin III TV specials since 1989, which they co-produce with TMS Entertainment.
Nippon Television announced on February 8, 2011, that it would make the anime studio Madhouse its subsidiary after becoming the primary stockholder at about 85%, via a third-party allocation of shares for about 1 billion yen (about US$12 million).[45][46]
On January 29, 2014, Nippon Television announced that it would purchase a 54.3% stake in Tatsunoko Production and adopt the studio as a subsidiary.[47][48]
