JOAX-DTV (Nippon Television)

Credits

Descriptions by
Thestudioghiblifan, Will333 and TheLogoFan2004

Editions by
BaldiBasicsFan, AlmightyKingPrawn, DatuDimatablan, Snappy and TheLogoFan2004

Video captures courtesy of
perfumepod and QTFG104

Background

The Nippon Television Network Corporation (callsign JOAX-DTV), also known as Nippon Television (NTV) and colloquially known as AX, is a Japanese television station based in Tokyo serving as the flagship station of the dual Nippon News Network (NNN) and the Nippon Television Network System (NNS) respectively. Owned by Nippon Television Holdings, the station first signed on August 28, 1953 by a number of investors, including the Yomiuri Shimbun and is one of the oldest (and the first) commercial broadcasters in Asia.

1st ID (Hato no kyūjitsu/Dove's Day Off) (August 28, 1953-September 30, 2001, July 24, 2011)

Logo Sequence Black and white (1953-1972)

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Color (1972-2001)

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End Cards

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  1953-1958
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  1958-1972
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  1972-1977 (2011 analog shutdown variant)
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  1978-2001

Visuals:

• August 28, 1953-June 30, 1972: On a black background, there is a large, transparent-looking N, with the letters T and V spaced out in the sides of the letter. The words "JOAX-TV" are seen on the bottom of the logo. After a few seconds, the screen fades in to three doves standing on a birdcage, spreading their wings to the rhythm of the music. The birdcage fades out and the doves begin to fly off one by one, with one dove remaining; this dove flaps its wings and zooms towards the camera. This fades into the word "NTV" (in a black blocky font) zooming in over a white background. The background becomes black, and "NTV" becomes white. The text "日本テレビ放送" (which stands for "Nippon Television Broadcasting"), in a dot-matrix/LED display-like font, scrolls to the left. There is the TV station's info (including the channel number and the broadcasting frequencies) on a sign made up of arrows. Finally, the screen cuts to the end card, as explained below in the Trivia section.
• July 1, 1972-September 30, 2001: The first part of this ident is a colorized version of the original one, where the big N is steel blue (with "TV" in light blue), the birdcage is brown, and the doves are blue. When the last dove zooms towards the camera, it morphs into glittering sparkles that form a wreath of confetti over a black background; the stars in that wreath quickly turn into doves, and a star shines in the center of that wreath. The corporate wordmark "NTV", in white, shines and zooms in (without changing its color this time). The background becomes a very dark blue color. The text "日本テレビ" ("Nippon Television") scrolls left, in the same dot-matrix/LED display-like font as before, but colored orange. The screen cuts to a new channel info screen set on a white background; there is a tile-like animation done three times, revealing different white text (the first screen shows "JOAX-TV" over a series of orange tiles, the second shows "4チャンネル" ("Channel 4") over a series of blue tiles, with the "4" bigger than the rest, and the third shows "日本テレビ" over a series of combined blue and orange tiles). Afterwards, the end card is shown.

Trivia:

• The doves represent NHK's television arm, Nippon Television and KRT (Radio Tokyo, now TBS Television, which had applied for a construction permit by that time NTV launched, but hasn't signed on by that time) and eventually, only one dove remains: the one representing NTV. As more television stations were established over the decades, no new doves were added to this ident and the amount of doves always remained three.
• Here are the end cards used by this ident:
  • August 28, 1953-August 27, 1958: The NTV wordmark is placed inside an outlined circle. Directly above the circle is "JOAX-TV", and directly below that circle is "東京" ("Tokyo"). The circle outline and text are colored white and the background color is black.
    • The reason why the bottom text is displayed as "Tokyo" because NTV at that time planned to expand their broadcasting operations to the entire country (with each city that would have its own NTV-affiliated TV station display its name as the bottom text of a local version of this end card), but the then-current broadcast license issued to them was limited to the Kantō region only. However, NTV would start the Nippon News Network in 1966, expanding its national reach via affiliates. This was followed by the start of the Nippon Television Network System in 1972.
  • August 28, 1958-June 30, 1972: Same as the 1953 end card, but "JOAX-TV" is now displayed at the upper left, and "日本テレビ" is displayed at the lower right.
  • July 1, 1972-December 31, 1977, July 24, 2011: The background is now blue, with the NTV wordmark now in color ("N" is light blue, "T" is red, and "V" is green) and placed inside a white outlined rounded rectangle. "JOAX-TV" and "日本テレビ" are displayed in the same positions as before.
  • January 1, 1978-September 30, 2001: On a white background, the newly-introduced corporate emblem of Nippon Television (which is a stylized "日" over a grid-like pattern) is displayed in an indigo color. "JOAX-TV" is displayed at the upper-left of the screen in red and "日本テレビ" is displayed at the lower-right of the screen in gray.

Variant: On July 24, 2011 (the date when Japanese analog television switched off in most regions, including the Kantō region, where NTV is situated), at 11:58 PM local time, the 1972-1977 version of this ident was broadcast on NTV's analog signal in Tokyo, with the addition of the text "58年間 ありがとうございました" ("Thank you for 58 years"), superimposed on the lower-left corner of the end card, in white. Both lower text elements form this message: "Thank you for 58 years [of analog television broadcasts], Nippon Television."

Technique: A mix of cut-out and camera-control animation. Traditional cel animation was added into the mix in 1972.

Audio: A custom-made orchestra piece (composed by Shirō Fukai) titled "Hato no Kyūjitsu" (鳩の休日, "Doves' Day Off") that had been slightly reorchestrated in the 1970s. It was first reorchestrated in 1972 and then again in 1978, as performed by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra. The second reorchestration was used since September 28, 1978. During the part with the network information, an announcer can be heard, which varies due to the logo's usage:

• August 28, 1953-June 30, 1972: "NTV、第4チャンネル。映像周波数171.25メガサイクル、音声周波数175.75メガサイクル。JOAX-TV、こちらは日本テレビでございます。" ("NTV, channel 4. Video frequency: 171.25 megacycles, Audio frequency: 175.75 megacycles. JOAX-TV, this is Nippon Television.") There were some variants:
  • The first variant has Masako Yūki as the announcer.
  • The second variant, delivered by a currently unidentified announcer, contains a slight variation in the section of the music that is played during and after the voiceover.
• July 1, 1972-September 27, 1978, July 24, 2011: Another currently unidentified announcer, who says "JOAX-TV、第4チャンネル、こちらは日本テレビです。" ("JOAX-TV, channel 4, this is Nippon Television.")
  • From this point on, the station's frequencies are not stated anymore in the ident, instead appearing on the test card (along with the station's transmission output for both frequencies) that is broadcasted before the ident is shown.
• September 28, 1978-March 31, 1987: Mihoko Kosaka, who used the 1972 spiel.
• April 1, 1987-September 30, 2001: Hiroko Ogiwara, who also used the 1972 spiel but says the station callsign faster.
  • For sound multiplex broadcasts, the standard spiel is heard on the left channel, while "JOAX-TAM、こちらはNTV、テレビジョン音声多重放送です。" ("JOAX-TAM, this is NTV, television audio multiplex broadcasting.") is heard on the right channel. There is a delay of about one-halfth of a second between the two spiels. The music can also be heard on both channels.

Legacy: This logo was a trademark of Japanese television, given its professional animation.

2nd ID (October 1, 2001-June 30, 2003)

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Visuals: Over a gold background, the logo starts with black dots arranged to form a world map moving while the text "JOAX-TV" forms in and out. After the "JOAX-TV" text forms out, the text "4 Channel" appears with the "4" being larger and bolder than the "Channel" text. Meanwhile, on the bottom-right corner, there are nine translucent dots with the white outlined text "NTV" drawing. As the map zooms in to Japan, the "4 Channel" text zooms out and a red box with the white text "日テレブランド?" appears on the center while the "NTV" text draws out. Finally, the map fades out onto a white background.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An airy theme mixed with timpani bumps. Meanwhile, an announcer giving out details of the network.

3rd ID (July 2003-March 31, 2008, Analog)

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Visuals: On a black background, a gold world map and gold text saying "NIPPON TELEVISION" slide to the left, with gold squares flying all over the screen, and two intersecting lines moving across the screen. On the foreground, gold squares fly into the background, and an orange circle with rough edges appears from the bottom. As the gold square forms "日テレ", the circle rapidly accelerates and goes into "日" A gold outline of Nandarō, NTV's mascot fades in to the left of "日テレ" along with gold text saying "NIPPON TELEVISION" on the bottom. The background fades into pitch black.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A soft orchestrated dramatic fanfare with trumpets. An announcer giving out details of the network. An electric shift sound is heard near the end.

4th ID (April 1, 2008-December 26, 2013)

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Visuals: This is an abridged remake of the 1st logo using computer animation. The big N (now shown as a glass-like 3D shape) with the letters "T" and "V" inside is first seen, with either "JOAX-TV" (analog channel) or "JOAX-DTV" (digital channel) below. The big N morphs into the birdcage (this time with a thick horizontal brown line below it which wipes rightward, spanning the entire width of the screen), and the word "TV" explodes into blue dots that group into bunches of six of those (that each form a circle); three of these bunches of six dots turn into the same doves from before. Two doves each explode back into the same six dots instead of flying, while the remaining dove flaps its feathers before jumping with its feathers up. Then, the lone dove creates copies of itself while spinning (appearing as "wreaths" of six doves each), and the whole thing fades to a white background with the Nippon Television logo (consisting of the "pixelated" letters "日テレ" ("Nittele") in dark gold with Nandarō to the left of it), with either "JOAX-TV" or "JOAX-DTV" in dark gold above and "Nippon Television" below in a dark gold sans-serif font in uppercase.

Trivia: The bunch of six dots that form a circle and the "wreath" of six doves both represent NHK's television arm as well as Tokyo's five commercial television stations: Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, NTV, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, and Fuji Television.

Variants:

• The 55th anniversary variant of the end card, used from April 1, 2008 to March 29, 2009, has the station callsign and the Nippon Television logo in teal, with the numeral 55 in black and positioned to the upper right of the logo (as if that numeral was treated as an exponent), and instead of "Nippon Television", the lower text now reads "Nittele 55th Anniversary" in black and exactly as cased. The network's mascot does not appear in the NTV logo.
• From July 5, 2010 to July 23, 2011, the analog version of this ident was presented in a 16:9 widescreen mode; polished glass-like pillar boxes were added to the left and right sides of the video.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A reorchestrated and abridged version of the 1st logo's music (similar to the 1978 version), played using a synthesizer. The announcer this time is Takahiko Fujī, who says the following:

• JOAX-TV:
  • "ご覧のチャンネルは、JOAX-TV、日本テレビです。" (“The channel that you are watching is JOAX-TV, Nippon Television.”) (junction; the entire sentence is said twice)
  • "ただいまから放送を開始致します。ご覧のチャンネルは、JOAX-TV、日本テレビです。" (“We will now begin our broadcast. The channel that you are watching is JOAX-TV, Nippon Television.”) (sign-on)
  • "ご覧のチャンネルは、JOAX-TV、日本テレビです。本日の放送を終了致します。" (“The channel that you are watching is JOAX-TV, Nippon Television. Today's broadcast will now end.”) (sign-off)
• JOAX-DTV: “JOAX-DTV、ご覧のチャンネルは、日本テレビデジタルテレビジョンです。" ("JOAX-DTV. The channel that you are watching is Nippon Television digital television.”) (the last sentence is said twice)

5th ID (December 27, 2013-)

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Visuals: On a white background, there is the number 4 as it forms first as a single number then into multiple copies of it with the words "ch" coming after it. Then, the numbers disappear while the callsign "JOAX-DTV" appears. The "O" zooms to another "O" with that number now forming the NTV symbol alongside a tagline accompanying it.

Variants: Beginning in 2024, the NTV logo and symbol was colored in red instead of black and the tagline is different.

Technique: Digital traditional animation, accompanied with an announcer.

Audio: A digital synth theme.