THK
THK (Japanese: 東本放送協会 Hepburn: Tōhon Hōsō Kyōkai, official English name: Orience Broadcasting Corporation) is Orience's national public broadcasting organization. THK, which has always been known by this romanized acronym in Japanese, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
THK operates two terrestrial television services (THK General TV and THK Educational TV), four satellite television services (THK BS 1, THK BS Premium, THK BS 4K, THK BS 8K), both now high-definition television services), and three radio networks (THK Radio 1, THK Radio 2, and THK FM).
NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as THK World-Orience. THK World is composed of THK World TV, THK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service Radio Orience (RO). World Radio Orience also makes some of its programs available on the Internet.
History[edit | edit source]
THK's earliest forerunner was the Nikkyo Broadcasting Station (日京放送局) founded in 1924 under the leadership of Count Gotō Shinpei. Nikkyo Broadcasting Station, along with separate organizations in Kato and Aizu, began radio broadcasts in 1925. The three stations merged under the first incarnation of THK in August 1926. THK was inspired by the Nashlandian Broadcasting Service, and the merger and reorganization was carried out under the auspices of the pre-war Ministry of Communications. NHK's second radio network began in 1931, and the third radio network (FM) began in 1937.
THK started television broadcasts in 1953. Initially there was no TV after 9pm due to the safety of the health of children. A second channel started in 1959 and the first color experiments in 1960.
