TV Asahi

Sign of TV asahi in headquarters since 2003

In 2003, the company headquarters moved to a new building designed by Fumihiko Maki at: 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, the company's former headquarters of 1986–2003. It is located at Ark Hills, not far from its headquarters.

View of TV Asahi headquarters since 2003

TV Asahi's annexe at Ark Hills, not far from its headquarters since 2003

TV Asahi began as "Nihon Educational Television Co., Ltd." (NET) (株式会社日本教育テレビ, Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Kyōiku Terebi, "The Japanese Educational Television Company") on November 1, 1957. It was established as a for-profit educational television channel. At the time, its broadcasting license dictated 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" (子供の情操教育のため, 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テレビ).

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). Aside from these two live action programs, which would become part of its flagship programming, due in part by the work done by Toei's animation branch, the 70s were also marked on NET with great animation classics of national fame, which aired one after the other in the channel and were even exported to other countries, many of these would be part of daily life and culture and helped introduce the world to the anime genre. Such animations put the channel in direct competition with other stations which broadcast similar programming.

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" (全国朝日放送株式会社, 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 live action 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 (ゴーエクスパンダ, Gō Ekkusu Panda), also known as Gō-chan (ゴーちゃん。) Gō-chan is currently seen on TV Asahi's opening sign-on ID.

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, which in 2011-12, was replaced by its mascot, Go-Chan.

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 (English) and Hiragino Kaku Gothic W8 (Japanese).[1]

From 1991 to 2001, TV Asahi was very unique among the national television networks for its English language theme song, Join Us, which was used for both the startup and closedown sequences. Before that, from 1977 to 1987, another song was used for these (instrumental only from 1978, formerly with vocals).

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

JOEX-TV
JOEX-DTV

Kantō Region, Japan
Channels	Digital: JOEX-DTV, Channel 24 (UHF – LCN 5)
Branding	tv asahi テレビ朝日 EX
Slogan	New Air, On Air. (2008-present)
Programming
Affiliations	All-Nippon News Network
Ownership
Owner	TV Asahi Corporation
Sister stations	BS Asahi Tele Asa Channel 1 Tele Asa Channel 2 Zee Asahi
History
Founded	1957 (1957)
First air date	November 1, 1957
Former channel number(s)	ch.# 10 (analog, 1957-2011), ch. #5 (digital)
Call sign meaning	JOEX = Japan's Original Free-to-Air Educational TV Station X (10, former channel assignment)
Technical information
ERP	10 kW (68 kW ERP)
Transmitter coordinates	35°39′31″N 139°44′44″E
Translator(s)	Hachiōji, Tokyo Analog: Channel 45 Tama, Tokyo Analog: Channel 57 Chichi-jima, Ogasawara Islands Analog: Channel 59 Mito, Ibaraki Analog: Channel 36 Digital: Channel 17 Hitachi, Ibaraki Analog: Channel 60 Utsunomiya, Tochigi Analog: Channel 41 Digital: Channel 17 Maebashi, Gunma Analog: Channel 60 Digital: Channel 43 Chichibu, Saitama Analog: Channel 38 Narita, Chiba Analog: Channel 59 Tateyama, Chiba Analog: Channel 60 Yokohama Minato Mirai 21, Kanagawa Analog: Channel 60 Yokosuka-Kurihama, Kanagawa Analog: Channel 35 Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Analog: Channel 41 Digital: Channel 24 Kitadaitō, Okinawa Analog: Channel 48 Minami Daito, Okinawa Analog: Channel 60
Links
Website	http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/

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

• Television in Japan
• Fighting TV Samurai

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Corporate site (in English)
• TV Asahi at Anime News Network's encyclopedia