TBS Holdings
is a privately owned media company in Japan. 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.
TBS produced the game show Takeshi's Castle and has also broadcast the Ultra Series programs and Sasuke, whose format would inspire similar programs outside Japan. TBS is a member of the Mitsui Group keiretsu and highly cooperating with the Mainichi Shimbun despite the latter's lack of shareholding.
History
- May 1951 - Radio Tokyo was founded in Kasumigaseki in Chiyoda, Tokyo
- December 25, 1951 - KRT started radio broadcasting from Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and the frequency changed to 950 kHz.
- April 1955 - KRT started TV broadcasting from Akasaka-Hitotsukicho in Minato, Tokyo.
- August 1, 1959 - Japan News Network is formed
- November 29, 1960 - KRT was renamed The headquarters and radio studio were moved to the main building in Akasaka.
- August 1961 - TBS unveils the cursive logo, after the renaming of Tokyo Broadcasting System from KRT
- July 17, 1966 Ultraman begins airing becoming popular in Japan
- October 1, 1967 Ultraseven begins airing becoming more popular and getting higher viewers ratings
- 1971 - TBS Radio's transmitter power was increased to 100 kW.
- April 2, 1971 Return Of Ultraman begins airing and revives The Ultra series
- March 31, 1975 - Asahi Broadcasting Corporation dropped out and JNN and Mainichi Broadcasting System joined the news network due to ownership issues with ABC. Since then, MBS has been an affiliated TV station of JNN in Osaka and Kansai region.
- November 23, 1978 - The frequency for TBS Radio was Geneva [Frequency Plan of 1975|moved] to 954 kHz.
- May 2, 1986 - TBS broadcasting the game show Takeshi's Castle.
- 1989 - TBS became culpable in the Sakamoto family murder by Aum Shinrikyo, resulting in complaints against the network after the case was solved several years later.
- October 19, 1990 - The last-ever episode of Takeshi's Castle was broadcast on TBS.
- September 20, 1991 - TBS enters into an agreement with CBS News in the U.S. for newscasts and satellite relays.
- October 3, 1994 - The present headquarters, TBS Broadcasting Center, were completed next to the old headquarters. It is called "Big Hat ". Nine months later a third logo was unveiled.
- April 1, 1998 - JNN News Bird starts broadcasting and in 2006, the channel was renamed TBS News Bird.
- February 2000 - TBS adopts a symbol based on the Kanji symbol for "person".
- March 21, 2000 - TBS founded TBS Radio & Communications Inc., TBS Entertainment Inc., and TBS Sports Inc., and began TBS Live Inc. the next day. On October 1, 2001, TBS changed both the name of the radio station to TBS Radio & Communications, and the callsign of TV station.
- July 1, 2002 - TBS ch. begins broadcasting on pay television.
- October 1, 2004 - TBS Entertainment merged TBS Sports and TBS Live changing the corporate name to Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc..
- October 13, 2005 - Rakuten Inc. announced that it bought 15.46 percent stake in TBS, bringing it up to 19%.
- After over a month and a half of worries over a possible hostile takeover, Rakuten withdrew its bid for TBS on December 1 and planned to form a business alliance with the broadcast company instead.
- April 1, 2006 - Digital terrestrial broadcasts commence.
- April 1, 2009 - TBS became a certified broadcast holding company named Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc.. Its TV broadcasting and other operations were taken over by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. and the letters TBS were used for the abbreviation of the subsidiary company.
- March 14, 2011 - A news special program was broadcast without commercials in three days after the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster.
- December 1, 2011 - TBS sold the Yokohama BayStars, a Nippon Professional Baseball team to DeNA. DeNA bought 66.92 percent of the team's stock for 6.5 billion yen from TBS. TBS retained a 2.31 percent ownership stake in the team.
- April 1, 2016 - TBS Holdings subsidiary, TBS Radio and Communications renamed TBS Radio
- April 1, 2020 - After 26 years, TBS unveils an updated logo.
- October 1, 2020: Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc. was renamed as TBS Holdings, Inc., to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the company since 1950.