Early stages In 1951,
US Senator Karl Mundt (known as the key proponent of
Voice of America) announced that commercial television would be set up in Japan, then under
United States-led
Allied Occupation of Japan. According to Japanese-Canadian writer Benjamin Fulford, Mundt recommended
Matsutarō Shōriki to the
CIA, which later hired Shōriki as an agent under the codenames "podam" and "pojackpot-1". With executives of
The Asahi Shimbun and
Mainichi Shimbun, Shōriki persuaded Prime Minister
Shigeru Yoshida to form a commercial television network in Japan. On July 31, 1952, Nippon Television was granted the first commercial TV broadcasting license in Japan. The Nippon Television Network Corporation was established in October of that year. After obtaining the broadcasting license, Nippon Television purchased land for the construction of its headquarters building (now the Kojimachi branch office) in
Nibanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and began preparations for the broadcast of TV programs. Due to high prices, television sets were not widely available at the launch of NTV and NHK. In an effort to broaden advertisement impact, NTV installed 55 street TVs in the
Kanto area. As a result, the
Yomiuri Shimbun Group filed for a separate license in Osaka under the name
Yomiuri TV.
Nippon News Network and launch of color broadcasts With the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issuing a large number of new TV licenses in the late 1950s, Yomiuri Shimbun and Nippon Television began to establish stations outside the Kanto area. Nippon Television founded the second Japanese television network, Nippon News Network, on April 1, 1966, with a 19 affiliated stations as founding members. In one year, NTV aired a total of 938 hours of color programming. On the 25th anniversary of Nippon Television's first broadcast in 1978, the broadcaster launched
24 Hour Television: Love Saves The Earth. It was the only telethon on Japanese TV, and achieved high ratings; it continues to be aired today. Although ratings of Nippon TV affiliates increased, advertising revenue decreased in 1992 due to the collapse of the
Japanese asset price bubble. The number of affiliates increased to 30 after
Kagoshima Yomiuri Television started broadcasting in 1994. In December 2000, Nippon TV launched the satellite-exclusive channel
BS NTV. Fuji TV took advantage of the incident when, becoming number one in ratings. Analog broadcasting ended on July 24, 2011, and NTV fully entered the digital TV era. In 2012 and 2013, the triple crown was taken by
TV Asahi because of its primetime programming. Nippon TV later regained the triple crown ratings in 2014. , Nippon TV has held the triple crown rating for 12 years. On April 26, 2012, the Nippon Television Network Preparatory Corporation was founded as part of a major reorganization. On October 1, the Nippon Television Network Corporation became a certified broadcasting holding company, Nippon Television Holdings, Inc.; the Nippon Television Network Preparatory Corporation took over the Nippon Television Network Corporation name. On February 1–2, 2013, Nippon TV collaborated with NHK to air a special program on the first TV broadcasts 60 years before. On February 27, 2014, Nippon TV acquired the Japanese division of
Hulu,
Hulu Japan. The network started airing more programs exclusively on Hulu following its acquisition, which was criticized by viewers. In 2015, Nippon TV and the other four commercial broadcasters in Japan launched
TVer, a free on-demand service. In the fourth quarter of 2020, live online streaming of NTV started to be trialed on TVer. In September 2020, Nippon TV and
PricewaterhouseCoopers collaborated to create a system using artificial intelligence to predict audience ratings; it was first trialed on its movie block
Friday Roadshow. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the broadcaster officially started live online streaming of its channel. Despite inclusion in trials the year before, the late-night news program
News Zero and its succeeding program were excluded from streaming. On October 6, 2023, Nippon Television purchased a majority stake in
Studio Ghibli; NTV began to handle management, while the studio continued to focus on creative efforts. == Branding ==