NHK


The Japan Broadcasting Corporation, also known by its romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestrial television channels, three satellite television channels, and three radio networks.
NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World-Japan. NHK World-Japan is composed of NHK World TV, NHK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service Radio Japan. World Radio Japan also makes some of its programs available on the Internet.
NHK was the first broadcaster in the world to broadcast in high-definition and in 8K.

History

NHK's earliest forerunner was the Tokyo Broadcasting Station, founded in 1924 under the leadership of Count Gotō Shinpei. Tokyo Broadcasting Station, along with separate organizations in Osaka and Nagoya, began radio broadcasts in 1925. The three stations merged under the first incarnation of NHK in August 1926. NHK was modelled on the BBC of the United Kingdom, and the merger and reorganisation was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications. NHK's second radio network began in 1931, and the third radio network began airing in FM in 1957.

Radio broadcasting

NHK began shortwave broadcasting on an experimental basis in the 1930s, and began regular English- and Japanese-language shortwave broadcasts in 1935 under the name Radio Japan, initially aimed at ethnic Japanese listeners in Hawaii and the west coast of North America. By the late 1930s, NHK's overseas broadcasts were known as Radio Tokyo, which became an official name in 1941.
In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts via the Information Liaison Confidential Committee. All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II. The famous Tokyo Rose wartime programs were broadcast by NHK. NHK also recorded and broadcast the Gyokuon-hōsō, the surrender speech made by Emperor Hirohito, in August 1945.
Following the war, in September 1945, the Allied occupation administration under General Douglas MacArthur banned all international broadcasting by NHK, and repurposed several NHK facilities and frequencies for use by the Far East Network. Japanese-American radio broadcaster Frank Shozo Baba joined NHK during this time and led an early post-war revamp of its programming. Radio Japan resumed overseas broadcasts in 1952.
A new was enacted in 1950, which made NHK a listener-supported independent corporation and simultaneously opened the market for commercial broadcasting in Japan. NHK started television broadcasting in 1953, followed by its educational TV channel in 1959 and color television broadcasts in 1960.
NHK opened the first stage of its current headquarters in Japan's capital city's special ward Shibuya as an international broadcasting center for the 1964 Summer Olympics, the first widely televised Olympic Games. The complex was gradually expanded through 1973 when it became the headquarters for NHK. The previous headquarters adjacent to Hibiya Park was redeveloped as the Hibiya City high-rise complex.

Satellite broadcasting

NHK began experimental satellite broadcasting with the NHK BS 1 channel in 1984, followed by NHK BS 2 in 1985. Both channels began regular broadcasts in 1989. In April 2011, BS 1 was rebranded while BS 2 channel ceased broadcasting and was replaced by "BS Premium" which broadcasts on the channel formerly used by BShi.
International satellite broadcasts to North America and Europe began in 1995, which led to the launch of NHK World in 1998. It became free-to-air over the Astra 19.2°E and Eurobird satellites in Europe in 2008.

Digital television

NHK began digital television broadcasting in December 2000 through BS Digital, followed by terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in three major metropolitan areas in 2003. NHK's digital television coverage gradually expanded to cover almost all of Japan by 24 July 2011, when analog transmissions were discontinued & ended.

''Studies of Broadcasting''

From 1963 to 1999, NHK published the journal Studies of broadcasting: an international annual of broadcasting science.

Organization

NHK is a dependent corporation chartered by the Japanese Broadcasting Act and primarily funded by license fees. NHK World broadcasting is funded by the Japanese government. The annual budget of NHK is subject to review and approval by the Diet of Japan. The Diet also appoints the twelve-member board of governors that oversees NHK.
NHK is managed on a full-time basis by an executive board consisting of a president, executive vice president and seven to ten managing directors who oversee the areas of NHK operations. The executive board reports to the board of governors.

Subsidiaries

  • NHK Enterprises, Inc. : Established on 1 April 2005.
  • NHK Educational Corporation : Established on 30 May 1989.
  • NHK ART, Inc. : Established on 10 July 1961.
  • NHK Publishing, Inc. : Established on 1 April 1931.
  • Japan International Broadcasting Inc. /JIB: Established on 4 April 2008.
  • NHK International, Inc. : Established on 1 July 1980.
  • NHK Global Media Services, Inc. : Established on 1 April 2009, by merging NHK Joho Network, Inc. and Japan Teletex Co. Ltd. .
  • NHK Cosmomedia America, Inc.: Created by merging Japan Network Group and NHK Enterprises America, Inc. on 1 April 2010, but its licence was granted on 12 November 2008. The company's logo was filed on 23 March 2010 and registered on 13 December 2011.
  • NHK Cosmomedia Limited: Created by merging JSTV and NHK Enterprises Europe in April 2010.
  • NHK Technologies, Inc. : Established on 1 April 2019, by merging NHK Integrated Technology Inc. and NHK Media Technology, Inc..
  • Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation /B-SAT: Established on 13 April 1993.
  • NHK Engineering System, Inc. : Established on 22 December 1981.
  • NHK GAKUEN : Established in 1962-10-01. It was renamed to its current name on 1 April 2018.
  • NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo : Established on 27 April 1942, as Japan Symphony Orchestra. On 1 August 1951, it was renamed to NHK Symphony Orchestra. It became a public interest-incorporated foundation and was renamed to its current name on 1 April 2010.
  • NHK Public Welfare Organization/NHK HEARTS : Established on 31 August 1960.
  • NHK Promotions Inc. /: Established on 1 October 1977, as NHK Promote Service Inc.. It was renamed to its current name in October 1989.
  • NHK CULTURE CENTER /: Established on 1 December 1978.
  • NHK SERVICE CENTER, INC. : Established on 28 February 1951.
  • NHK BUSINESS SERVICES INC. : Established on 17 January 1990.
  • BS Conditional Access Systems Co., Ltd. /B-CAS : Established on 22 February 2000.
  • NHK Business Create Inc. : Established on 1 April 2009, by merger,.
  • NHK-Communications Training Institute : Established on 8 August 1985.

    Former subsidiaries

  • NHK Integrated Technology Inc. : Established on 23 July 1969, as NHK Integrated Technology Inc.. It was merged into NHK Technologies, Inc. on 1 April 2019.
  • NHK Media Technology, Inc. : Established in April 2008 by merging NHK Technical Service and NHK Computer Service. It was merged into NHK Technologies, Inc. on 1 April 2019.

    Services

Radio

It maintains three radio stations available nationwide:
  • NHK Radio 1 – Organized mainly on news, information, drama and entertainment programs. It began its broadcasts on July 12, 1925 as the first radio station of Japan. It is similar to BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom is also conducted.
  • NHK Radio 2 – Organized mainly on educational and liberal arts programs. Weather forecasts, stock market conditions, news in foreign languages, etc. are also broadcast.
  • NHK-FM Broadcasting – Organizes various music programs, but mainly classical music. Simultaneous broadcasting with Radio 1 is also conducted. It is similar to BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3 in the United Kingdom.
All of them can also be tuned through the Internet, within the national territory.

Television

It manages two open signal channels through digital terrestrial television. Since Japan has a television network system, it schedules regional opt-out in each of its centers. However, the NHK brand is common for the whole country.
  • NHK General TV – Pioneer of television in Japan, it began its broadcasts on 1 February 1953. Its offer is general and public service.
  • NHK Educational TV – Educational and cultural channel, designed especially for children. It has been broadcasting since 10 January 1959.
All of them can also be tuned through the Internet, within the national territory. It also has one exclusive satellite channel, as well as two in ultra-high definition.
  • NHK BS – Specialized in information, international documentaries, sports broadcasts, cultural and entertainment programming. It was founded on 12 May 1984. Renamed as NHK BS on 1 December 2023.
  • NHK BS Premium 4K – Cultural and entertainment programming in 4K. It was founded on 1 April 2011 and relaunched on 1 December 2023.
  • NHK BS8K – 8K programming, launched on 1 December 2018.

    License fee

NHK is funded by reception fees, a system analogous to the license fee used in some English-speaking countries. The Broadcasting Act which governs NHK's funding stipulates anyone with equipment able to receive NHK must pay. The fee is standardized, with discounts for 6 and 12 monthly payments, as well a different fee rate for residents of Okinawa prefecture. For viewers making annual payments by credit card with no special discounts, the reception fee is 12,765 yen per year for terrestrial reception only, and 21,765 yen per year for both terrestrial and broadcast satellite reception.
However, the Broadcasting Act specifies no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result, after a rash of NHK-related scandals including an accounting one, the number of people in 2006 who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million viewers. This incident sparked debate over the fairness of the fee system. That year, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law. By fiscal year 2023, the amount of those refusing to pay had gone up to 1.66 million.
This fee and how it is charged is unpopular with some citizens. This led to the formation of the NHK Party, also known as N-Koku, a single-issue political party, which has protested this fee with representatives in the upper house.
In the 2025 fiscal year, NHK will have a projected shortfall of 40 billion yen in license fees. But the network seeks to fill the hole left by non-paying and no-television-watching watchers by collecting fees for a new streaming service planned to start at the beginning of the year. According to NHK, the new "internet-only" fee of 1,100 yen a month, the same as the broadcast fee, could add around 100 million yen to its yearly budget.