NHK



         


NHK (日本放送協会, Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai), or Japan Broadcasting Corporation, is Japan's public broadcaster. Radio Tokyo is an informal English name for the NHK, referring to its original role as a radio company. It operates two terrestrial television services, NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV, three satellite services, NHK BS-1, NHK BS-2 and NHK Hi-Vision (high-definition broadcast) and three radio networks, NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2 and NHK FM. For people overseas it also broadcasts NHK World TV, NHK World Premium and NHK World Radio.

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History

NHK was started in 1926, modeled after the BBC radio company. A second radio network was started in 1931 with a shortwave service broadcasted overseas starting in 1935.

In November 1941, The Imperial Japanese Army nationalized all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts through the Information Liaison Confidential Committee, which included representatives from the Army, the Navy, the Foreign Ministry, the Government Information Office, the Cabinet Information Bureau, the Home Ministry, the Great East Asia Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, the Domei News Agency and the NHK. Thereafter, all published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II.

NHK started television broadcasts in 1953. It aired its first colour television broadcast in 1960. Although the network first introduced commercial broadcasts to Japan, nowadays NHK is paid for by viewer fees.

NHK World TV started broadcasts in 1995. The entire NHK network moved to digital broadcasting in 2000.

See also: Japanese television programs, International broadcasting in Japan, Japanese media

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