NHK World

NHK World, the 24 hour bilingual news and features channel from Japan is shortly to launch on the Sky Digital EPG. It's already broadcasting tests off the EPG currently.

They do Japanese language news (NHK BS News) at the top of the hour, followed by various feature programmes at quarter past, followed by the English language news programme (NHK Newsline) at quarter to the hour.

Love the channel, graphically it is so different from just about anything you'll see in Europe or North America. Looking forward to it's official Sky Digital launch shortly

Will be interesting to see some Japanese output on Astra again.

I used to watch a bit of JST when it was on Astra 1 in analogue.

Didn't NHK broadcast after CMT at 7pm if i recall?

This is great news! Thanks very much

arigato gozaimasu

Gesundheit.

Clears up after a couple of days with the right cream.

Yes, I seem to remember it did. I think we just got a bit of NHK after the JST "consortium", or whatever it was, broke up.

JSTV still exists if this page is anything to go by.

http://www.jstv.co.uk/english/e_subscriber.html

Are you sure you're not thinking of Tara TV, which was jointly owned by RTE and UPC? I was given to understand that JSTV was not much more than a trading operation for NHK World's premium offering. I could be wrong though.

I think JSTV are still trading. They used to show NHK World stuff in the clear, and premium stuff encrypted - and I believe that is still the case. It isn't on Astra 2 though - so may be below the radar for most non-enthusiasts in the UK.

JSTV originally broadcast for two hours each night between 7pm and 9pm on Astra 19.2 during a closedown of lifestyle. Later it moved to its own channel on Astra 19.2 for 12 hours per day from 7pm-7am. It have moved now to Hotbird when it started digital transmissions and now broadcasts 24 hours a day on JSTV1 and for a few hours on JSTV2. (JSTV2 also broadcasts NHK radio).

JSTV does show unencrypted NHK news/world programming but is mainly subscription for the dramas and comedies from NHK and other Japanese broadcasters. JSTV also shows Sumo! But it is very expensive at £30 pcm.

If you want to sample NHK World it is available in Europe unencrypted on Astra1. Programming includes NHK News 7 and Newswatch 9 (both billingual) and mainly business and BS News from NHK BS1 and NHK BS2. There are also English language documentaries and English news and business programmes.

A programme guide can be found here http://www.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/tv/schedule/index.html

NHK World for Sky is on EuroBird 1 satellite.(11681 V).