Tokyo Broadcasting System - History of TBS

History of TBS

• May, 1951 - Radio Tokyo (株式会社ラジオ東京?, KRT, the predecessor of TBS) was founded in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan.
• December 25, 1951 - KRT started radio broadcasting (1130 kHz, 50 kW, until July 1953) from Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and the frequency changed to 950 kHz.
• April, 1955 - KRT started an analog TV broadcasting (JOKR-TV, Channel 6) from Akasaka-Hitotsukicho, Minato, Tokyo.
• November 29, 1960 - KRT was renamed Tokyo Broadcasting System, Incorporated (株式会社東京放送?, TBS), and the headquarters and radio studio were moved to Akasaka.
• 1971 - The output of TBS Radio was powered up to 100 kW.
• March 31, 1975 - Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) dropped out JNN and Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc. (MBS) joined the news network. Since then, MBS has been an affiliated TV station of JNN in Osaka.
• November 23, 1978 - The frequency of TBS Radio changed to 954 kHz.
• 1989 - TBS partly took part in Sakamoto family murder by Aum Shinrikyo, and this was swamped with complaints in 1996.
• 1994 - The present headquarters were completed next to the old headquarters. They are called "Big Hat (ビッグハット)".
• March 21, 2000 - TBS founded TBS Radio & Communications Incorporated (株式会社ティ・ビー・エス・ラジオ・アンド・コミュニケーションズ→株式会社TBSラジオ&コミュニケーションズ), TBS Entertainment Incorporated (株式会社ティ・ビー・エス・エンタテインメント), and TBS Sports Incorporated (株式会社ティ・ビー・エス・スポーツ), and founded TBS Live Incorporated (株式会社ティ・ビー・エス・ライブ) the next day. On October 1, 2001, TBS succeeded the radio station to TBS Radio & Communications, and changed callsign of TV station ( JOKR-TV → JORX-TV).
• October 1, 2004 - TBS Entertainment merged TBS Sports and TBS Live, and changed the corporate name to "Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Incorporated" (株式会社TBSテレビ).
• October 13, 2005 - Rakuten Inc. announced that it bought 15.46 percent stake in TBS, bringing it up to 19%.
• After over a month and a half of worries over a possible hostile takeover, Rakuten withdraw its bid for TBS on December 1 and plans to form a business alliance with the broadcast company.
• April 1, 2009 - TBS became a certified broadcast holding company named "Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, Inc." (株式会社東京放送ホールディングス, TBSHD). TV broadcasting business and culture business were taken over by Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. and the letters TBS became in use for the abbreviation of the subsidiary TV company.
• December 1, 2011 - TBS sold the Yokohama BayStars, a Nippon Professional Baseball team to DeNA. DeNA will buy 66.92 percent of the team's stock for 6.5 billion yen from TBS. TBS will retain a 2.31 percent ownership stake in the team.