NHK General TV

Logo used since 2020
Country	Japan
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Headquarters	NHK Broadcasting Center,Shibuya,Tokyo, Japan
Programming
Language	Japanese (English/original language available as sub-audio on bilingual programs)
Picture format	1080iHDTV (downscaled toletterboxed480i for theSDTV feed)
Ownership
Owner	NHK
Sister channels	NHK Educational TV NHK BS NHK BS Premium 4K NHK BS8K
History
Launched	February 1, 1953; 73 years ago (1953-02-01)
Availability
Terrestrial
Digital terrestrial (ISDB)	Channel 1 (Channel 3 in prefectures where a commercial station operates on channel 1)

NHK General TV (NHK総合テレビジョン,NHK Sōgō Terebijon), abbreviated on-screen asNHK G, is the main television service ofNHK, theJapanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports,anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of its commercial counterparts. The channel is well known for its nightly newscasts, regular documentary specials, and popular historical dramas. A similar counterpart would be, to a lesser extent,BBC One in the UK. Among the programs NHK General TV broadcasts are the annual New Year's Eve spectacularKōhaku Uta Gassen, the year-longTaiga drama, and the daytimeAsadora.

The name is often abbreviated in Japanese toSōgō Terebi (総合テレビ) ("GTV" and "NHK G" are also used). The wordSōgō (general) serves to differentiate the channel from NHK's other television services,NHK Educational TV, NHK BS 1, NHK BS 2 (closed in 2011) and NHK BS HI (changed to BS Premium).

Launched on 1 February 1953, NHK was Japan's only television channel prior to the launch ofNippon Television on 28 August 1953.

NHK's programs are produced in accordance with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasting Code.

Opened in Tokyo on February 1, 1953, this channel is Japan's first TV channel. The common namegeneral television was given because of its generalist status in contrast to NHK Educational Television (commonly known as E-tele since 2011), which is also broadcast on terrestrial waves.

Compared to ETV, which organizes programs that are almost unified throughout Japan, General Television has different programming for each region produced by NHK's regional stations. Therefore, wide-area broadcasting in the analog phase was only in the Kanto wide area (1 metropolitan area and 6 prefectures), and the other 40 prefectures had prefectural broadcasting. In the digital phase, Ibaraki Prefecture moved to prefectural broadcasting in 2004, and Tochigi and Gunma prefectures moved to prefectural broadcasting in 2012, leaving only four prefectures in Southern Kanto for wide-area broadcasting. Nationally aired news programs on the channel are produced by the NHK news department from Tokyo studios.

At the beginning of General TV's broadcasting, it was far from popular with general households, and it was difficult to produce TV programs independently. NHK management, in order to beat up the forthcoming competitions in the months that followed the launch, decided to bring several NHK Radio programs to be adapted to the new medium.^[1]

General TV's all-day audience rating in the Kanto area (surveyed byVideo Research) was ranked first in a row for 24 years from 1963 to 1986, pushing out each commercial key station.^[2] However, in 1987, it handed over the all-day viewer rating toFuji TV, and regained it in 1988 and 1989, but it has been far from that position since 1989.

NHK conducted experimental broadcasts in 1939-1940 (interrupted due to its entry in the war); the callsign of the station inTokyo was J2PQ, video frequency 4.5 MHz, output 500W.

In 1950, following the end of occupation, an experimental VHF service started in Tokyo on channel 3 (similar experiments were also carried out inNagoya andOsaka) one hour a day, three days a week.

The first regular broadcast was carried out on February 1, 1953 from Tokyo, under the JOAK-TV callsign. In 1953 alone, the station had more remote broadcasts than an average television station in the United States at the time, from sports to theatrical performances. Using remote transmissions was more convenient at the time given the fact that its studio facilities were reduced. The station broadcast for six hours a day at the time.^[3]

The first stations outside Tokyo to sign-on were JOBK-TV in Osaka (March 1, 1954 at 8 A.M.) and JOCK-TV in Nagoya (the same day at 11am). At 2 P.M. that day, a special program was broadcast to introduce the new stations, with congratulatory messages from officials of the respective cities.^[4]

The network expanded to coverSendai,Hiroshima andFukuoka in 1956. That same year, in preparation for the start ofCBC's television station in Nagoya, the Nagoya station moved from channel 5 to channel 3, as the old frequency was set to be used by CBC. From May 29 to December 23, 1957, further stations opened inNagano,Shizuoka,Kanazawa,Okayama,Matsuyama and Kokura (Kitakyushu). The first morning broadcast was on October 7, 1957 and the first experimental color broadcast in Tokyo, on December 28.

On November 29, 1958, the Osaka station moved from channel 4 to channel 2 in anticipation for the start ofMBS's television station, and on April 6, 1959, the Tokyo station moved from channel 3 to channel 1 to accommodateNHK Educational's main station in Tokyo, to achieve better coverage in the Kanto area.

On March 20, 1966, the National Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (nowNTT) completed the standardization works for color TV microwave lines throughout Japan (excluding the area betweenKagoshima andNaze). It is now possible to carry out color TV broadcasts via the network throughout the country, and with the exception of some remote island areas such asAmami Oshima, the development of colorization throughout the country has been completed.

JOSP-TV inSaga became NHK General's first UHF station when its regular broadcasts started on March 15, 1969. After that, UHF stations opened inTakamatsu, five prefectures in the Kansai region other than Osaka,Tsu, andGifu, and prefectural broadcasting began. On December 21, experimental broadcasting of bilingual audio multiplex broadcasting begins in Tokyo and Osaka.

On October 10, 1971, NHK General began full-scale colorization of the program. Due to this colorization, black-and-white broadcasting excluding reruns of past works has disappeared from Japanese TV programs. Coinciding with this move, the local news units made the switch.^[5] In May 1972, following thereversion agreement of the Ryukyu Islands from the United States to Japan, NHK General TV started broadcasting in Okinawa using the infrastructure of the formerOHK.^[6]

Due to the influence of thefirst oil crisis, after January 16, 1974, the midnight broadcast was suspended. In 1975, the analog UHF experimental stations in Tokyo and Osaka were closed; the time saving measures due to the oil crisis were completely lifted for the first time in one year, two and a half months. It was only in April 1984, all weekday broadcasts end at 12am, completely ending the late-night broadcast suspension that had continued since the oil crisis.

Regarding analog sound multiplex broadcasting, it was first implemented from December 1982;Teletext broadcasting (subtitled broadcasting) started later in 1985.

On September 19, 1988, asEmperor Showa was in critical condition, all-night broadcasts began in the form of fillers, reporting on his condition from time to time. When the Emperor died on January 7, 1989, NHK suspended all programs except for educational broadcasts, including the serialasadoraJun-chan no ōenka and theTaiga dramaKasuga no Tsubone, but continued to broadcast special programs in memory of Emperor Showa and special programs for the enthronement of the new Emperor until the early hours of the January 9.^[7] The temporary all-night broadcast will end, but a regular program will be scheduled by 1am until March.

On January 17, 1995, when theGreat Hanshin earthquake occurred, NHK began a special news program at 5:51pm on all broadcast channels, including Educational TV; all regular programming were suspended. From February onwards, the program returned to its normal format, but until the end of February (until the end of March in the Kansai region) the program focused on reporting on the earthquake disaster.

In April 1996, NHK General began broadcasting 24 hours a day on weekends (Fridays and Saturdays late at night); the weekday broadcast time was also expanded to 2am. The following year, the network expanded the 24 hour broadcast to weekdays, excluding early Monday mornings.

In April 2000, NHK General started simultaneous subtitle broadcasting of live broadcast programs using teletext. 24 hour a day broadcasting was also expanded to Sunday.

On December 1, 2003, NHK General started broadcasting terrestrial digital television at each broadcasting station in three metropolitan areas.

In March 2004,NTT Communications' relay lines completely transitioned from analog lines using microwaves to digital lines using optical fiber. In conjunction with this, the line operation system will be unified from Tokyo. On October 1, NHK General launched JOEP-DTV inMito as its first digital television station since Tsu NHK General station, which was started its regular broadcast during analog days 31 years prior. Prior to that, NHK Mito relays its television station from Tokyo.

• FIFA
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      • FIFA World Cup (including qualifiers for Europe (all matches) and Asia (all matches))
• The JFA Emperor's Cup
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• FIFA Women's World Cup
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Places inbold refer to where the main station of each region is located.

JIB TV (Japan International Broadcasting Inc.) is a broadcasting company established in April 2008.^[8] Its purpose is to disseminate information and knowledge of Japanese and Asian culture, and as a counterweight to channels such as CNN International and BBC World. JIB is also responsible for the distribution of NHK's international servicesNHK World-Japan andNHK World Premium.^[9]

JIB produces English-language programs about Japan and Asia for an international audience. The programs will be shown all over the world through the English channel NHK World-Japan from the Japanese public service broadcaster NHK.^[9] JIB began airing such programs in February 2009, starting withJapan in the First Person, a co-production of the five major "Tokyo-area" commercial TV stations.^[10]

JIB's main shareholder is NHK, while other shareholders includeMicrosoft Japan,Fuji Media Holdings, Japanese bankMizuho.^[11] Operations are financed for the most part by the Japanese TV license payers but also by external sponsors and advertisers.

In order to release capital NHK moved money from radio to TV. One consequence was that the Swedish, German and Italian departments of foreign channel Radio Japan were shut down in autumn 2007.

• Official website
• Japan Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasting Code(in Japanese)
• Japan Broadcasting Corporation Broadcasting Code(in Japanese)
• Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Broadcasting Code(in Japanese)
• History of Television in Japan

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