News
Super-Local Anime TV Channel Planned for Akihabara, Nipponbashi
posted on by Ko Ransom
Ginga TV, a local television and internet-based station dedicated to anime-related programming, has announced that it will begin airing programming this October via UHF television broadcast in Tokyo's Akihabara district and Osaka's Nipponbashi district (sometimes colloquially known as "Denden Town"), as well as over the Internet. The channel advertises itself as "the first terrestrial television channel specializing in anime," and plans to broadcast anime, local news, and anime-related educational programming, as well as programs on voice actors and anime theme songs. The channel plans to also feature "socially" created anime programming made by the public. The channel also plans to distribute programming in English and Chinese over the Internet.
A diagram on the channel's website indicates that the Akihabara broadcast will cover an area approximately a kilometer (about 0.6 miles) in diameter in Akihabara and approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in Nipponbashi; the website states that there are plans to expand the channel's reach. The frequencies that the channel will be broadcast over were allocated to applicants by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications after the switch-over from analog to digital television that took place in Japan last July. In addition to watching the channel through standard televisions in the area, many individuals in the areas will be able to watch the channel using their phones via the widespread 1seg Japanese mobile phone data broadcasting service.
The public document announcing the allocation of these broadcast "white spaces" lists two other applicants that have received permission to broadcast in Akihabara, including a "Town Link Project" applied for by Sony and Animax Broadcast Japan.
[Via Ota-Suke]
