TV Asahi

TV Asahi Corporation (株式会社テレãƒ"朝日, Kabushiki-gaisha Terebi Asahi), also known as EX and Tele-Asa (テレ朝, Tere Asa), is a Japanese television network headquartered in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company also owns All-Nippon News Network.

Headquarters

In 2003, the company headquarters moved to a new building designed by Fumihiko Maki. The address is: 6-9-1 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

Some of TV Asahi's departments and subsidiaries such as TV Asahi Productions and Take Systems are still located at TV Asahi Center, which is TV Asahi's former headquarters between 1986 and 2003. It is located at Ark Hills, not far from its headquarters.

History

TV Asahi began as "Nihon Educational Television Co., Ltd." (NET) (株式会社日本教育テレãƒ", Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Kyōiku Terebi, "The Japanese Educational Television Company") on November 1, 1957. It was established as a for-profit educational television channel, which was (and still is) quite rare in the world television industry. At the time, its broadcasting license dictates that the network is required to devote at least 50% of its airtime to educational programming, and at least 30% of its airtime to children's educational programming. The station was owned by Asahi Shimbun, Toei Company, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and Obunsha.

However, the for-profit educational television model eventually proved to be a failure. In 1960, NET began its transformation into a general-purpose television station. It began to broadcast anime and foreign movies. So as not to run afoul of the educational TV license requirements, NET justified the airing of these programs under the pretext of "nurturing a child's emotional range" (子供の情æ"æ•™è‚²ã®ãŸã‚, Kodomo no jōsō kyōiku no tame) and "introduction of foreign cultures" (外国文化の紹介, Gaikoku bunka no shōkai). At the same time, NET also changed its common name from "Nihon Educational Television" to "NET TV" (NETテレãƒ").

Seven years later, in 1967, NET aired its first colour broadcast programme. Part of its transformation into a general TV channel would be the April 1971 premiere of the Kamen Rider Series by the Toei Company and creator Shotaro Ishinomori, the tokusatsu superhero series that would make the channel a national hit. It has been its home ever since, joined by yet another toku series, Super Sentai, in the spring of 1975 (KR left the channel in 1975, only to return in 2000).

NET's transformation into a general-purpose television station was complete by November 1973, when NET, along with educational channel "Tokyo Channel 12" (now TV Tokyo) in Tokyo applied and received a general purpose television station license. At the same time, NET renamed itself as NET General Television (総合局NET), which subsequently became the "Asahi National Broadcasting Company, Limited" (全国朝日æ"¾é€æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾, Zenkoku Asahi Hōsō Kabushiki-gaisha, commonly named "TV Asahi") on April 1, 1977. Five years later, TV Asahi became the official network, until 1999, for yet another Toei franchise, the Metal Hero Series.

In 1996, TV Asahi established the All-Nippon News Network (ANN) (オールニッポンニュース・ネットワーク, Ōru Nippon Nyūsu Nettowāku), and began a number of reforms, including the unification of all presentation styles on its regional networks and the creation of a new logo to give Asahi the look and feel of a national television network. On October 1, 2003, TV Asahi moved its head office from its Ark Hills Studio to Roppongi Hills, and the station was renamed "TV Asahi Corporation", with the name presented as "tv asahi" on-screen.

The transmission of international aquatics competitions, World Cup football matches, and creation of popular late-night TV programs contributed to a rise in ratings for TV Asahi, and lifted the TV station from its popularly ridiculed "perpetual fourth place" finish into second place, right behind Fuji TV, by 2005.

The station also launched its own mascot, Gō EX Panda (ゴーエクスãƒ'ンダ, Gō Ekkusu Panda), also known as Gō-chan (ゴーちゃã‚"。) Gō-chan is currently seen on TV Asahi's opening sign-on ID.

Branding

TV Asahi's current branding were created by UK design collective Tomato (some members work as the electronic music group Underworld) along with TV Asahi's in-house design department in 2003. It comprises a set of computer-generated "sticks" in white background, which changes in colour and movement along with the background music that accompanies the idents. TV Asahi also uses a brief eyecatch of its sticks animation at the top-left of the screen after commercial breaks.

The background music used for TV Asahi's sign-on and sign-off videos are Underworld's Born Slippy .NUXX 2003 and Rez. TV Asahi later updated its sign-on and sign-off video in 2008 with a revised version of computer-generated "sticks" animation and new background music. TV Asahi's slogan New Air, On Air appears at the top of its name. It can be seen on TV Asahi's YouTube channel.

The company writes its name in lower-case letters, tv asahi, in its logo and public-image materials. Normally, the station branding on-screen appears as either "/tv asahi" or "tv asahi\". The station's watermark appearance is the stick at the top with the station's name at the bottom. The fonts used by TV Asahi for the written parts are Akzidenz Grotesk Bold (for the English part)， and ãƒ'ラギノè§'ゴシック（W8） (for Japanese).

Ownership

• The Asahi Shimbun Company (24.72%)
• Toei Co., Ltd. (16.09%)
• Kosetsu Museum of Art (5%)
• Mizuho Trust & Banking (4.01% through Trust & Custody Services Bank)
• Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting (3.2%)
• Recruit (2.09%)
• State Street BTC of Japan (2.02%)
• The Asahi Shimbun Foundation (2%)
• Northern Trust (1.92%)
• The Master Trust Bank of Japan (1.77%)

TV broadcasting

Since 2004, the funding of this station is through sponsorship.

Analog

(until July 24, 2011 only for 44 out of 47 prefectures)

JOEX-TV â€" TV Asahi Analog Television (テレãƒ"朝日アナログテレãƒ"ジョン)

• Tokyo Tower â€" VHF Channel 10

Tokyo

• Hachiōji â€" Channel 45
• Tama â€" Channel 57

Islands in Tokyo

• Chichijima â€" Channel 59

Ibaraki Prefecture

• Mito â€" Channel 36
• Hitachi â€" Channel 60

Tochigi Prefecture

• Utsunomiya â€" Channel 41

Gunma Prefecture

• Maebashi â€" Channel 60

Saitama Prefecture

• Chichibu â€" Channel 38

Chiba Prefecture

• Narita â€" Channel 59
• Tateyama â€" Channel 60

Kanagawa Prefecture

• Yokohama-minato â€" Channel 60
• Yokosuka-Kurihama â€" Channel 35
• Hiratsuka â€" Channel 41

Okinawa Prefecture

• Kita-Daito â€" Channel 48
• Minami-Daito â€" Channel 60

Digital

JOEX-DTV â€" TV Asahi Digital Television (テレãƒ"朝日デジタルテレãƒ"ジョン)

• Remote controller ID 5
• Tokyo Sky Tree â€" UHF Channel 24

Ibaraki Prefecture

• Mito â€" Channel 17

Tochigi Prefecture

• Utsunomiya â€" Channel 17

Gunma Prefecture

• Maebashi â€" Channel 43

Kanagawa Prefecture

• Hiratsuka â€" Channel 24

Networks

• Headquartered in Osaka, broadcast in the Kansai area: Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, Analog Channel 6, Digital Channel 15 [ID: 6]
• Headquartered in Nagoya, broadcast in the Chukyo area: MÄ"tele, Analog Channel 11, Digital Channel 22 [ID: 6]
• Headquartered in Sapporo, broadcast in Hokkaidō: Hokkaido Television Broadcasting, Analog Channel 35, Digital Channel 23 [ID: 6]
• Headquartered in Aomori, broadcast in Aomori Prefecture: Asahi Broadcasting Aomori, Analog Channel 34, Digital Channel 32 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Morioka, broadcast in Iwate Prefecture: Iwate Asahi Television, Analog Channel 31, Digital Channel 22 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Sendai, broadcast in Miyagi Prefecture: Higashinippon Broadcasting, Analog Channel 32, Digital Channel 28 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Akita, broadcast in Akita Prefecture: Akita Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 31, Digital Channel 29 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Yamagata, broadcast in Yamagata Prefecture: Yamagata Television System, Analog Channel 38, Digital Channel 18 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Kōriyama, broadcast in Fukushima Prefecture: Fukushima Broadcasting, Analog Channel 35, Digital Channel 29 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Niigata, broadcast in Niigata Prefecture: The Niigata Television Network 21, Analog Channel 21, Digital Channel 23 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Kanazawa, broadcast in Ishikawa Prefecture: Hokuriku Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 25, Digital Channel 23 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Nagano, broadcast in Nagano Prefecture: Asahi Broadcasting Nagano, Analog Channel 20, Digital Channel 18 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Shizuoka, broadcast in Shizuoka Prefecture: Shizuoka Asahi Television, Analog Channel 33, Digital Channel 18 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Hiroshima, broadcast in Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshima Home TV, Analog Channel 35, Digital Channel 22 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Yamaguchi, broadcast in Yamaguchi Prefecture: Yamaguchi Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 28, Digital Channel 26
• Headquartered in Takamatsu, broadcast in Kagawa Prefecture, Okayama Prefecture: Setonaikai Broadcasting, Analog Channel 25, Digital Channel 30
• Headquartered in Matsuyama, broadcast in Ehime Prefecture: Ehime Asahi Television, Analog Channel 25, Digital Channel 17 [ID:5]
• Headquartered in Fukuoka, broadcast in Fukuoka Prefecture, Saga Prefecture: Kyushu Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 1, Digital Channel 31 [ID: 1]
• Headquartered in Nagasaki, broadcast in Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki Culture Telecasting, Analog Channel 27, Digital Channel 19 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Kumamoto, broadcast in Kumamoto Prefecture: Kumamoto Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 16, Digital Channel 49 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in ÅŒita, broadcast in ÅŒita Prefecture: Oita Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 24, Digital Channel 32 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Kagoshima, broadcast in Kagoshima Prefecture: Kagoshima Broadcasting Corporation, Analog Channel 32, Digital Channel 36 [ID: 5]
• Headquartered in Naha, broadcast in Okinawa Prefecture: Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting, Analog Channel 28, Digital Channel 16 [ID: 5]

Programs

News programs

• ANN News (ANNニュース, ANN NyÅ«su) (daily news bulletin, simulcast at all ANN stations, weekdays at 1:59 PM and weekends at 5:50 and 11:45 AM; 2:25 (SAT), 3:25 (SUN), 5:30 and 8:54 PM)
• ANN News and Sports (Saturdays at 12:00 MN)
• Good! Morning (グッド!モーニング) (early morning show, weekdays from 4:55 to 8:00 AM)
• Hai! Terebi Asahi Desu. (はい!テレãƒ"朝日です, Yes! This is TV Asahi.) (public service program, 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month at 4:50 - 5:20 AM)
• Hodo Station (å ±é"ステーション, Hodo SutÄ"shon) (late night newscast, weekdays from 9:54 to 11:10 PM)
• Onegai! Morning (お願い!モーニング) (early morning variety show spinoff from Onegai! Ranking, weekdays from 4:00 to 4:55 AM)
• Super J Channel (スーãƒ'ーJチャンネル) (evening newscast, weekdays from 4:53 to 7:00 PM and weekends from 5:30 to 5:55 PM)
• Super Morning (スーãƒ'ーモーニング) (late morning show)
• Wide! Scramble (ワイド!スクランブル)
• Yaguchi Hitori Maru C (やぐちひとりC)

Sports programs

• U.S.Open, The Open Championship
• U.S. Women's Open, Women's British Open
• ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Final
• FINA World Aquatics Championships
• Yokohama International Women's Marathon
• New Japan Pro Wrestling
• World Pro Wrestling (ワールド・プロレスリング, New Japan Pro Wrestling TV program)
• Formula E

Variety programs

• Music Station (ミュージックステーション, MyÅ«jikku SutÄ"shon) (1986â€"present, Fridays at 8:00 to 8:54 PM)
• Music-Ru TV (musicã‚‹ TV) (Mondays at 1:21 to 1:51 AM)
• Tamori Club (Fridays at 12:20 to 12:50 AM)

Drama programs

• Aibou Yutaka Mizutani (2002 TV drama)
• You're Under Arrest (2002 TV drama)
• Maison Ikkoku (2007 TV drama)
• Uta no Oniisan (2008 TV drama)
• 7 Mannin Tantei Nitobe (2009 TV drama)
• W no Higeki (2012 TV drama)

Children and teen programming

Subsidiaries

• CS 110 Co., Ltd.
• Flex Co., Ltd.
• Japan Cable Television
• Shin-Ei Animation
• TV Asahi America Inc.
• TV Asahi Music Co., Ltd.
• TV Asahi Productions, Co., Ltd.
• TV Asahi Service Co., Ltd.
• Video Pack Nippon
• JTBC

See also

• Television in Japan

References

1. ^ http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/vi/flash_content/index.html http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/vi/flash_content/index.html

• fi:Tatsuya_Fujiwara
• http://www.jdorama.com/drama.18.htm

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Corporate site (English)
• TV Asahi's channel on YouTube
• TV Asahi on Twitter

Others

• Nihon Educational Television CM on YouTube
• TV Asahi at Anime News Network's encyclopedia