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NHK was founded as a state public utility corporation controlled by Japan’s Ministry of Communications. It began operations in 1926 with the merger of the radio stations in Tokyo, Ōsaka, and Nagoya. Beginning in 1930 NHK became a propaganda outlet for Japan’s increasingly militaristic government. With a new broadcast law in 1950, NHK was dissolved and a new public broadcasting corporation, also named NHK, was formed; the law forbade government intervention in programming and also, for the first time, permitted competition by private broadcasting stations. NHK began television broadcasting in 1953.
NHK, which does not broadcast advertising, is supported entirely by fees paid by its audience. One of its television networks provides educational programming, and the other provides general programming, including news (for which it is especially noted), cultural programs, sports (especially sumo wrestling and baseball), and entertainment. Both networks can be seen throughout Japan’s principal islands. The NHK laboratories developed a television system using 1,125 scanning lines, and some of its satellite programming uses this high-definition system daily.
Since 1951 the network has sponsored Japan’s oldest and largest classical music ensemble, the NHK Symphony Orchestra.
