Network name	Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK)
Network logo	|
Network type	Broadcast radio network and Broadcast television network
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Country	Japan
Available	Nationwide and Worldwide
Slogan	("Straightforward, earnest")
Area	Shibuya, Tokyo
Owner	Public Broadcast
Launch date	March 22, 1925 (radio) 1950 (television)
Past names	Japanese Radio Station (1925-26)
Website	www.nhk.or.jp

Terr serv 1	General TV
Terr chan 1	Analog–Ch 1 (Tokyo)Analog–Ch 2 (Osaka)Analog–Ch 3 (Nagoya)Digital- Ch 1 (Tokyo, Osaka)Digital- Ch 3 (Nagoya)
Terr serv 2	Educational TV
Terr chan 2	Analog–Ch 3 (Tokyo)Analog–Ch 12 (Osaka)Analog–Ch 9 (Nagoya)Digital- Ch 2 (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya)
Sat serv 1	BS-1
Sat chan 1	Analog–Ch BS 7Digital-Ch 101
Sat serv 2	BS-2
Sat chan 2	Analog–Ch BS 11Digital-Ch 102
Sat serv 3	BS-Hi
Sat chan 3	Digital- Ch 103
Sat serv 4	NHK WORLD
Sat chan 4	TV, Radio Japan

in Shibuya, Tokyo]]

NHK (, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, Official English name: Japan Broadcasting Corporation) is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.

NHK operates two terrestrial television services (NHK General TV and NHK Educational TV), three satellite television services (NHK BS-1, NHK BS-2, and NHK Hi-Vision, a High-definition television service), and three radio networks (NHK Radio 1, NHK Radio 2, and NHK FM).

NHK also provides an international broadcasting service, known as NHK World. NHK World is composed of NHK World TV, NHK World Premium, and the shortwave radio service NHK World Radio Japan. World Radio Japan also makes some of its programs available on the internet.

History

Until the 1940s, NHK was a national radio broadcasting monopoly.

On March 22, 1925, one and a half years after the Great Kantō earthquake, the Radio Japan produced the first radio broadcast in Japan, transmitting from Atago Hill just north of the Tokugawa Tombs in Shiba Park. The first program included Beethoven, classical Japanese music, and a play by ōyō.

NHK was founded in 1926, modeled on the BBC radio company of the United Kingdom.

NHK’s second radio network was started in 1931. And in 1935, NHK started a shortwave radio service for listeners overseas, which was known as ’’‘Radio Japan’’’ in 1930s and 1940s.

In November 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army nationalised all public news agencies and coordinated their efforts through the Information Liaison Confidential Committee. All published and broadcast news reports became official announcements of the Imperial Army General Headquarters in Tokyo for the duration of World War II. The famous Tokyo Rose wartime programs were broadcasts by NHK.

NHK started General TV in 1950 and the Educational TV in 1959. It aired its first color television broadcast in 1960.

In 1980s, NHK BS TV broadcasts were started. And in 1995, NHK started ’’‘NHK World TV’’’.

In 2000, NHK started satellite digital TV broadcasts. And in 2003, terrestrial digital TV broadcasts were started for three megacity areas, which are to be expanded to cover almost all Japan by July, 2011.

NHK BS Hi-Vision analog TV was stopped by September, 2007.

Since End of September 2008, NHK World TV can be received Free-To-Air over the Astra 19.2°E (Astra 1L) in Europe.

As of 28 November, 2008, NHK World TV was seen to start Test transmissions on the Eurobird series of satellites, Free to Air, at 28.5 Degrees East. The transmissions, on 11.680 GHz (Vertical polarity, FEC 2/3, S/R 27.5MBaud), currently appear only by adding the channel manually on Sky Digital equipment, and the channel is currently recognised by a code number, “51108”. It is not currently known how long this service will be available for, or what the plans for NHK World presently are.

License fee

NHK is paid for by license fees (known in Japanese as ). The Broadcast Law which governs NHK’s funding stipulates that any television equipped to receive NHK is required to pay. The fee is standardized, with discounts for office workers and students who commute, as well a general discount for residents of Okinawa prefecture.

However, the Broadcast Law lists no punitive actions for nonpayment; as a result of this, after a rash of NHK-related scandals, the number of people who had not paid the license fee surpassed one million users. This incident sparked debate over the fairness of the fee system. In 2006, the NHK opted to take legal action against those most flagrantly in violation of the law.

NHK domestic broadcasting stations

TV programming

NHK General TV broadcasts a variety of programming. The following are noteworthy:

News

Local, national, and world news reports. NHK News 7 offers bilingual broadcasts on NHK General TV, NHK World TV and NHK World Premium. Its current flagship news program is News Watch 9, also broadcast throughout the whole NHK network. NHK also offers news for the deaf, regional news and children’s news. News Today 30 Minutes is the new name of NHK NEWSWATCH which ran for 6 years. It is an English newscast designed for foreign viewers. On 2 February 2009, NHK World TV changed and the flagship newscast, Newsline, also changed and is currently the flagship newscast on NHK and NHK World TV.

Emergency reporting

Under the Broadcast Act, NHK is under the obligation to broadcast early warning emergency reporting in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Their national network of seismometers in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency makes NHK capable of delivering the news in just 2–3 minutes after the quake. They also broadcast air attack warnings in the event of war, using the J-Alert system.

Education

Education programmes are watched nation-wide at primary schools. Tensai Terebikun MAX (better known as TTK) is a show combining a small amount of education with entertainment. TTK is currently hosted by the Yasuda Big Circus, Maki Nishiyama and a cast of 24 children ranging from ages 8 to 14.

Weather

Weather in detail, nationwide, and international for travellers.

Sports

NHK broadcasts the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments, high-school baseball championships from Koshien Stadium, Olympic Games, National Sports Festival of Japan, and a range of other sports. NHK also broadcasts Boston Red Sox games when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches.

News analysis

The network carries in-depth reports on current topics, political debate, and similar programming.

Music

The annual Kōhaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve is the highlight. The weekly schedule includes an amateur hour, and prime-time shows for all ages. Music Japan is shown each week with brand new Japanese pop, and rock acts.

J-Melo is NHK’s first music program to be recorded entirely in English for international consumption.

The NHK Symphony Orchestra, financially sponsored by NHK, was formerly (until 1951) the Japanese Symphony Orchestra. Its website details the orchestra's history and ongoing concert programme.

Drama

A sentimental morning show, a weekly jidaigeki and a year-long show, the ’’Taiga drama’’, spearhead the network’s fiction offerings.

NHK is also making efforts to broadcasting the drama made of the foreign country as "".

Documentaries

NHK has become known for its documentary series, first popularized by the mini-series Legacy for the Future, afterwards, "The Silk Road" in NHK Tokushu (NHK Special at later years), and in NHK Special.

Children

The longest running children’s show in Japan, }}, still airs to this day on NHK-ETV.

Sesame Street has also been one of the network's most successful children's programs, and one of the first to be imported from overseas. Sesame Street first debuted in 1971, but was taken off the network in the early 1980s, but resumed in 1988, until the end of March in 2004, when production on a local adaptation was announced, which NHK refused to be involved in. While Sesame Street is primarily designed for preschool children, teenagers and adults watched the program as a guide to learning English (though much later on, a dubbed version was also available). When the American Sesame Street aired on NHK, the channel produced episode guides for educational use. Some episode guide pages on Muppet Wiki use information from these NHK episode guides. In the early 1970s, the NHK episode guides covered parts of every episode. They included transcripts and Japanese translations of selected scenes. By the late 1980s, the NHK episode guides changed format. They skipped over many episodes, but they had complete transcripts, Japanese translations, and screen shots for every scene in the episode. In these later years, although the NHK broadcasts were largely the same as the U.S. airings, NHK replaced Spanish language segments with other segments that were in English. The Sesame Street Episode Guides on Muppet Wiki created from the NHK episode guides reflect the Japanese airings and therefore may lack Spanish language segments originally in the episodes, and may include NHK's replacement segments which were not originally aired in the episode. The 1980s issues also include cartoon versions of scenes from the episodes, coloring pages, and local "Sesame Club" fan letters, news, and photos. The issues covering season 20 also include interviews and biographical sketches (in Japanese) of people who worked on Sesame Street. In the early 1980s, an original closing credit sequence ended each episode. The first one points out of a companion book/guide that is available, along with a mailing address and pricing options, followed by a cast list. These credits also depicted illustrations of the Muppets, some holding numbers and letters, and was accompanied by the theme (one from the Original Cast album, though it cuts off to the last few notes of the closing harmonica solo). Characters seen include: The Count, Sherlock Hemlock, Professor Hastings, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert, Kermit the Frog, Grover, Roosevelt Franklin, Herry Monster, The Amazing Mumford, and an Anything Muppet old woman. The entire sequence ends with a shot illustration of Cookie, Ernie, Bert and Grover poking out of a curtain with the Sesame Street sign (and its Japanese translation above) and the NHK logo. At some point in the 1990s, each episode ended with a segment entitled "Sunny Day Club", which began with a still illustration of Elmo and Grover walking in the park, and Elmo's voiceover introducing the segment. These segments, accompanied by a female voiceover, showcased original artwork sent in by viewers, with Sesame music playing in the background, including Honk Around the Clock and The Happiest Street in the World). Also included were brief clips of sketches and episodes. The segment ends with a shot illustration of several characters (varied from time to time) with the words "The End". In the 2000s, when the show was available in both English and Japanese, Sesame English was interspersed within the program, first as a replacement for Elmo's World, but later in addition to.

Other

Cooking, comedy, exercise, gardening, crafts, anime, igo, shogi.

Notable programs

{| |valign=top|

’’Allison & Lillia’’ (2008)

’’Big Wolf on Campus’’ (2002-2003)

’’BuBu ChaCha’’

’’Caillou’’(1998-present)

’’Cardcaptor Sakura’’ (1998-2002)

’’Dynamic China’’ (2007-)

’’Doctor Who’’

’’Dungeons & Dragons’’ (1996-2002)

’’Eigo de Shabera Night’’ (2002-2009)

’’Futatsu no Spica’’

’’Future Boy Conan’’ (1978)

’’Guardian of the Sacred Spirit’’ (2007-)

’’Goosebumps’’ (1998-1999)

’’J-Melo’’ (2005-)

’’Kaitai-Shin Show’’

’’Kōhaku Uta Gassen’’

’’Kyo Kara Maoh!’’

’’MAJOR’’ (2004-2009)

’’Minna no Uta’’ (1961-ongoing)

’’Morizzo and Kiccoro’’ (2005 Aichi World Expo season)

’’Mujin Wakusei Survive’’

’’Mysterious Cities of Gold’’ (1982-1983)

|valign=top|

’’’’ (1990-1991)

’’Oshin’’ (1983-1984)

’’Pants Pankuro’’ (2004-2008)

’’The Pirates of Dark Water’’ (1993)

’’Planetes’’

''Questa

’’Sesame Street’’ (1971-2004)

’’Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro’’

’’Shirasu Jiro’’ (2009)

’’Snow Princess’’

’’Spongebob Squarepants’’ (2002-present)

’’Sports Kyoushitsu’’

’’’’

’’Taiga drama’’

’’Tales from the Darkside’’

’’Ten Minutes Box’’

’’The Nightmare Room’’ (2002-2003)

’’Tsubasa Chronicle’’

’’UFO Baby’’ (2000-02)

’’Visions of Light’’

’’Yat Anshin Uchuu Ryokou’’ (1996-1998)

’’Zettai Shonen’’ (“Absolute Boy”) (2004-2005)

|}

Notes

See also

{| |valign=top|

NHK World

Welcome to the NHK!

ISDB

STRL

UHDTV

|valign=top|

Japanese television programs

Japanese media

Domo-kun

NHK Spring Company

Hobankyo - Organization based in Japan that enforces Fuji Television copyright issues

Japan Prize Contest (NHK)

|}

References

Johnston, Eric. (July 7, 2009). NHK a fount of info, a lot of it from the government Japan Times, p. 3.

Seidensticker, Edward. (1990). ’‘Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake.’’ New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-54360-2

External links

NHK

NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories

NHK/digital

Category:Commercial-free television networks Category:Japanese radio Category:Publicly funded broadcasters Category:1926 establishments Category:Cable TV of Hong Kong

Title	Evgeni Plushenko
Caption	Plushenko during the men's medals ceremony at the 2010 European Championships.
Fullname	Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko
Country
Dateofbirth	November 03, 1982
Birthplace	Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai
Residence	Saint Petersburg
Height
Coach	Alexei Mishin
Formercoach	Mikhail Makoveev
Choreographer	David Avdish
Skating club	Yubileyny Sports Palace
Combined total	258.47
Combined date	2006 Olympics
Sp score	91.30 (WR)
Sp date	2010 Europeans
Fs score	167.81
Fs date	2006 Olympics

}}

Evgeni Viktorovich Plushenko (, Yevgeny Viktorovich Plyushchenko; born November 3, 1982) is a Russian figure skater. He is the 2006 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist and 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics silver medalist, three-time (2001, 2003, 2004) World Champion, six-time (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010) European Champion, a four-time Grand Prix Final champion and an eight-time (1999–2002, 2004–2006, 2010) Russian national champion.

Early career

Plushenko was born in Solnechny, Khabarovsk Krai, Soviet Union. He started skating at age four. When he was eleven years old, his ice rink in Volgograd closed. He was then sent to Saint Petersburg to train under the tutelage of Alexei Mishin.

Plushenko made quick progress on the international scene under Mishin's tutelage. As a 14-year-old, he won the 1997 World Junior Figure Skating Championships. The following year, at 15, he finished third at the senior World Figure Skating Championships.

2002 Olympics

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Plushenko and Yagudin were considered co-favorites. Plushenko finished 4th in the short program. He skated a strong free skate to "Carmen" and pulled up to finish in 2nd place overall;

2002 – 2006

at the 2004 Russian National Championships.]]

Plushenko won most of the competitions he entered in the following four years. He finished second only twice. The first time was to Emanuel Sandhu at the 2004 Grand Prix Final. The second was the 2004 European Figure Skating Championship, where he lost to Brian Joubert. He suffered through a difficult 2005, when was forced to withdraw from the 2005 World Figure Skating Championship in Moscow after the short program due to injury, and did not even compete at the Grand Prix Final. He eventually required groin surgery. He underwent groin surgery to correct the problem in Munich, Germany in spring 2005.

Going into the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Plushenko was the overwhelming favorite because of his past success under the new ISU Judging System which was now in use. Plushenko skated two solid programs and became the Olympic champion. He finished the short program ten points ahead of his closest rival, setting a new ISU record for the short program. His free skate was just as strong, and also set a new ISU record. Plushenko's free skating music was specially arranged for him by violinist Edvin Marton.

2006 – 2008: Hiatus

, Dima Bilan, Plushenko at the Eurovision Song Contest.]]

Plushenko took a break from competitive skating following the 2006 Olympic season. He has said the off season has helped him rest and recover from past knee injuries he has battled.

After seeing the poor results of Russian skaters in the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships (which was the worst since 1960), Plushenko was worried about Russia losing its status as a dominant force in figure skating, and was also concerned that Russia might even lose spots for its skaters in the 2010 Winter Olympics. He announced in April 2007 that he decided to return to competitive skating for the 2007–2008 season to keep Russia at a competitive level with other countries until the next generation of Russian skaters can take over, but a return to the ice did not materialize. Plushenko has also stated that he planned to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

In 2008 Plushenko, together with violinist Edvin Marton, accompanied Dima Bilan on stage as part of the winning Eurovision Song Contest performance "Believe" in Belgrade, Serbia. Plushenko skated on stage as part of the performance.

2009–2010: Return to competition

In March 2009 Plushenko announced that he had returned to training with longtime coach Alexei Mishin in order to prepare for the 2010 Olympics.

Plushenko led the short program in his return to skating at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup on October 23, 2009. He earned 82.25 points for the short, and also won the free skate with a score of 158.40. Overall, he won the gold in his comeback with a total of 240.65 points.

In December 2009 Plushenko signed a partnership agreement with the international management agency FlashLight led by the sports agent Andreas Goller.

At the 2010 Russian Figure Skating Championships, Plushenko earned 100.09 points for his short program. He received 171.50 points in the free skate to win his eighth Russian Championship with 271.59 points.

At the 2010 European Figure Skating Championships Plushenko set a new world record score in the short program by scoring 91.30 points, and went on to win the Championship for a sixth time with a total score of 255.39 points.

He skated at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, and received a score of 90.85 for his short program performance, breaking the Olympic record and leading all competitors. Following his skate, Plushenko said "Without a quad it's not men's figure skating. I will do the quad in any case. I believe that the quad is the future of figure skating. The quad is necessary, that is my opinion."

Plushenko finished second in the free skating and second overall, ultimately winning the silver medal with a total score of 256.36, 1.31 points behind the winner Evan Lysacek. In the free skating, he landed a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination but left a planned double loop out of a combination jump. He and Lysacek received a similar total score for program components, but Plushenko had a lower total technical elements score than Lysacek. He said of the gold medal winner, Evan Lysacek, "I think we need to change the judging system – a quad is a quad. If an Olympic champion doesn't do a quad, well I don't know...," In his interview to Russian newspaper Izvestia, Plushenko brought attention to the fact that, following his short program, three judges placed him 21st and 22nd for skating skills. "Strangely, the computer did not drop any one of the three. But what it did instead was to drop those judges who awarded me first place. Under the current system, if this is the way judges' marks are awarded, you can win, and you can just as equally lose. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to criticize the new rules; they are not bad. But they do need further refinement,”–said Plushenko. He also expressed dismay over the Russian Figure Skating Federation not standing up for one of their athletes. “After the short program, I should have had at least a 5 point lead over my competitors. In the end, however, the gap amounted to a mere 0.55 to which our Federation did not react at all.” Fellow Russian skating champion Irina Rodnina said that although she had hoped he would win, Plushenko's performance contained many small errors, and lacked the passion of his gold medal performance in the Torino Games. At the same time, a number of well-known skaters and coaches said they support Plushenko and believe he deserved the gold. Among them were figure skater Elvis Stojko and the coaches Reinhardt Ketterer, Tatiana Tarasova, and Galina Zmievskaya

Plushenko withdrew from the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships due to an injury. He has stated that his goal is to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Loss of eligibility

On June 28, 2010, the International Skating Union announced that Plushenko had lost his eligibility due to participating in skating shows without his federation's authorization. He was given 21 days to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which he did not do. As a result his loss of eligibility became final as announced by the ISU. August 23, 2010.

Further to the Decision of the ISU Council on the eligibility of Mr. Evgeny Plushenko published in ISU Communication No.1622, item 5, the ISU informs that no appeal against this Decision has been filed by Mr. Evgeny Plushenko within the 21 day deadline and that as a result the above Decision of the Council has become final.

However, a request for reinstatement may be made in line with ISU regulations and is subject to a review and decision by the ISU Council.

In October of 2010 he competed in the Japan Open 2010 as a part of the European team. Each team was allowed to have a "inelegible" member. He placed third in the mens portion.

Achievements

Plushenko's technical achievements are numerous. He is one of the few male skaters to perform the Biellmann spin. He was the first skater in the world to perform a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop jump (4–3–2) combination in competition, at the 1999 NHK Trophy (he has since landed his 4–3–2 combination 26 times so far). He is the first skater to have landed a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop (4–3–3) combination in competition, at the Cup of Russia 2002 (he has since landed his 4–3–3 combination four times so far). Plushenko is also the first skater to land a triple toe loop-triple toe loop-triple loop-double loop (3–3–3–2) combination, which was at the 2005 "Ard Gala". At the European Championships, he landed a six jump combination (3–3–2–2–2–2) in his exhibition program. He has landed a four jump combination; 4 toe loop-3 toe loop-2 loop-2 loop, at the World Championships in 2001. Plushenko has landed a consistent quadruple toe loop in competition, and has also landed a quadruple salchow in Samara, Russia at the 2004 "Second stage of Cup of Russia". It is estimated that he has landed a total of about 100 quads in competition. Plushenko is also one of few figure skaters to have landed quadruple loops and quadruple lutzes in practice, but has never completed either of them in competition.

At the age of 16, Plushenko was the youngest male skater to ever receive a perfect score of 6.0. He received a total of seventy five 6.0s before the new Code of Points judging system was introduced.

Plushenko is the only male figure skater in modern history of the sport, who has won three Olympic medals (only Gillis Grafström won four, in the early years of the sport 1920–1932).

Political career

In March 2007, Plushenko was elected to the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly representing A Just Russia. Following the 2010 Olympics, he announced his intention to quit politics but as of May 2010 retains his seat. He has come under fire for poor attendance, having attended only 11 of 123 parliamentary sessions since his election.

Personal life

On June 18, 2005, Plushenko married Maria Ermak, a sociology student at the University of St. Petersburg, in a lavish ceremony at the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg. Their child, a son named Egor Evgenievich (originally Kristian), was born on June 15, 2006. They separated, however, not long afterwards and divorced in February 2008.

In August 2009, he announced that he would marry Yana Rudkovskaya, Dima Bilan's record producer. They were married on 12 September 2009.

Programs

Competitive highlights

WD = Withdrew

Plushenko did not compete in the 2006–2007, 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 seasons.

References

External links

Официальный сайт || The Official Website

International Agency Representing Plushenko

Site About Evgeni Plushenko

Official Italian Site

Site About Evgeni Plushenko

Navigation

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:People from Khabarovsk Krai Category:Russian male single skaters Category:Winter Olympics medalists Category:Olympic gold medalists for Russia Category:Olympic silver medalists for Russia Category:Olympic figure skaters of Russia Category:Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics