Defunct Japanese-language North American television channel
Television channel
TV Japan (テレビジャパン) was a 24-hour Japanese-language television channel geared towards the Japanese diaspora in the United States and Canada. It was the North American carrier of the NHK World Premium service. The channel was owned by NHK CosmoMedia America Inc., a subsidiary of NHK Enterprises, the commercial arm of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Japan's national public broadcaster, and was available on many cable providers in the United States and Canada, and through U.S. satellite provider DirecTV.
While there are a handful of local and regional channels in the United States with primarily Japanese programming, TV Japan was, for much of its history, the only such channel available nationwide in both the U.S. and Canada. (A modified version of Nippon Television launched through DirecTV in 2019, and on Telus Optik TV in western Canada in 2020.)[1]
The TV Japan linear channel ceased broadcasting on March 31, 2024. After the closing date, NHK Cosmomedia continues to serve the North American market through its Jme [jp] streaming platform.[2]
Programming
TV Japan aired various programs from Japan including news coverage from NHK, dramas, movies, children's programs, and entertainment shows. Programming was provided mainly by NHK, but some entertainment programs originated from commercial Japanese broadcasters including TBS, Nippon TV, TV Tokyo, Fuji Television and TV Asahi. Some programming was subtitled or dubbed into English, while NHK's main news programs were available with English translation on SAP, with the original Japanese presentation on the main audio channel. TV Japan also featured extensive sports coverage including coverage of the Grand Sumo tournaments (with English commentary on SAP), Nippon Professional Baseball games and J-League soccer matches.
Free previews
TV Japan typically provided a free preview through most carrying service providers for approximately two weeks in April each year.[3]
In response to the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Northern area of Japan on the afternoon of March 11, 2011, cable and satellite TV providers across the United States and Canada provided a free-to-air broadcast giving viewers who may have friends and family in Japan with the latest news and information via a live simulcast from parent NHK.
Closure
In early 2024, cable and satellite service providers began to inform customers that the channel would be discontinued on March 31.[4] The network's website confirmed the closure on February 17, with programming to transfer to Dlibrary Japan, a service which would rebrand as Jme on March 20.[2] Jme then added live feeds of NHK World Premium and NHK World-Japan, NHK's English-language news channel. Jme Select, a linear streaming channel with programs scheduled at appropriate times for North American audiences similar to the outgoing TV Japan channel, launched as part of the service on April 1.[5]
The service is intended to be more flexible for viewers than the former channel, which was often offered alone as a premium offering, usually priced at about $20-25 a month in local currency depending on the provider (on top of any base service fees for that provider), without any alternate out-of-home streaming or on-demand options. At launch, Jme was priced at US$25 per month, or about C$34 at then-current exchange rates.
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