MBS

Early history

On June 1, 1958, New Japan Broadcasting changed its company name to Mainichi Broadcasting. Concurrently, Mainichi Broadcasting set up a television studio on the 8th and 9th floors of the south building of the Mainichi Osaka Kaikan, which was under construction, and built a signal transmitting station on the summit of Mount Ikoma. "Kansai Education and Culture Broadcasting", which had applied for an educational television license, also merged with MBS. Eighty-eight employees from Osaka Television Broadcasting joined MBS. Due to the decision of Radio Tokyo TV to maintain its network relationship with Osaka Television Broadcasting, Mainichi Broadcasting faced a shortage of broadcast programs and had to change its broadcast start date from December 1, 1958, to March 1959. On March 1, it established a network relationship with Nippon Educational Television (later renamed NET Television, now TV Asahi). At 10:00 a.m. on March 1, 1959, MBS TV officially launched.

In the early days of Mainichi Broadcasting, most entertainment programs came from NET stations, while most self-produced programs were educational. In 1963, the daily ratings of Mainichi Broadcasting were 7.5%, second only to NHK and Asahi Broadcasting's 8.1%. The average ratings in the evening period were 14.6%, second to Asahi Broadcasting's 15.9%. In the mid-1960s, Mainichi Broadcasting participated in the establishment of Tokyo Channel 12 by the Japan Science and Technology Foundation. As Tokyo Channel 12 quickly fell into operating difficulties after its launch, Mainichi Broadcasting began to broadcast some self-produced programs on Tokyo Channel 12 in 1967, but the situation did not improve. Consequently, the financial sector considered merging Tokyo Channel 12 with Mainichi Broadcasting. However, due to opposition from the Mainichi Shimbun and Nihon Keizai Shimbun's decision to rebuild Tokyo Channel 12, this merger was not realized. Nevertheless, Mainichi Broadcasting maintained a cooperative relationship with Tokyo Channel 12 and broadcast its own programs on the channel. In 1967, the MBS TV license was changed from a quasi-educational station to a general comprehensive station, allowing for more entertainment programs. On April 1 of the same year, MBS began to broadcast color programs. By October 1970, all in-house MBS programs were in color. During the 1970 World Expo, Mainichi Broadcasting aired "Good Morning Expo" daily and produced a series of special programs. In 1971, Mainichi Broadcasting Corporation stopped airing NET TV's "23rd Show" on the grounds that the program content was too vulgar, causing a sensation in the Japanese television industry. That same year, the daily average viewership rating was 8.8%, ranking first for the first time. MBS's TV division revenue also exceeded that of Asahi Broadcasting in 1971.

Mainichi Broadcasting began to strengthen international cooperation in the 1960s. It became an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union in 1969 and signed cooperation agreements with foreign television stations such as WGN-TV in the United States, CBLT-TV in Canada, Czechoslovak Television, ZDF in West Germany, and TF1 in France. In 1962, Mainichi Broadcasting opened a North American branch in New York, becoming the third Japanese television station to open a base there. Mainichi Broadcasting attaches great importance to international cultural cooperation and hosted the Kansai performance of the Vienna Boys' Choir in 1964.

Transition from NET to TBS

When Mainichi Broadcasting withdrew from Osaka Television in 1958, Osaka Television's successor, Asahi Broadcasting, inherited the network relationship between Osaka Television and TBS. This resulted in the Kansai region TBS affiliate being Channel 6, controlled by the Asahi Shimbun. There was a reversal in the relationship between Tokyo and Osaka TV station networks. In the early 1970s, Japan's four national newspapers exchanged shares in television stations. The Asahi Shimbun and the Yomiuri Shimbun handed over their shares in TBS to the Mainichi Shimbun; the Asahi and the Mainichi Shimbun handed over their shares in Nippon Television to the Yomiuri; and the Nikkei equity of NET TV was transferred to the Asahi Shimbun. The Asahi Shimbun also requested ABC to join the NET/ANN network. After TBS learned of this news, it invited Mainichi Broadcasting to join TBS's network in the summer of 1974 and obtained Mainichi Broadcasting's consent. On November 19, 1974, TBS and Mainichi Broadcasting jointly announced that Mainichi Broadcasting would join the Japan News Network starting April 1, 1975. Compared with the ANN period, MBS's broadcasts aired weekly during prime time, and the duration of the program broadcast nationwide in Japan was reduced from 5 hours and 50 minutes to 3 hours and 50 minutes. National broadcast programs outside prime time were also reduced from 6 hours and 35 minutes to 4 hours and 55 minutes. Concurrently, Mainichi Broadcasting ceased broadcasting Tokyo Channel 12 programs. Mainichi Broadcasting and Asahi Broadcasting also conducted large-scale program exchanges.

In the 1970s, TBS was known as the "hero of private broadcasting" and held a leading position in Japan's private television industry. As a result, MBS's ratings increased after switching networks. From October 1975 to March 1980, MBS won the "triple crown" of ratings. High ratings also boosted advertising performance. Mainichi Broadcasting ranked first in prime-time ratings for 26 consecutive weeks in the first half of 1978. In the same year, MBS's revenue reached 30.15 billion yen, and profit reached 5.12 billion yen. The revenue of both the television and radio divisions ranked first among Osaka stations. Beginning in the late 1970s, Mainichi Broadcasting took the lead in introducing electronic news gathering (ENG) among private stations in Osaka, which greatly improved its news gathering and editing capabilities. In 1978, Mainichi Broadcasting opened the Bonn branch, JNN's 11th overseas branch. In 1986, Mainichi Broadcasting opened its second overseas branch, the Manila branch. In terms of technological innovation, Mainichi Broadcasting began broadcasting stereo TV in 1982 and data information in 1986. In 1989, MBS introduced the Satellite News Relay (SNG) System.

In 1986, Mainichi Broadcasting regained the top position in advertising revenue among Osaka stations. In 1987, Mainichi Broadcasting's turnover reached 53.518 billion yen and profit reached 6.233 billion yen, setting high records at the time. Relying on the economic boom of Japan's bubble economy, Mainichi Broadcasting's revenue increased to 64.949 billion yen in 1990, with profits reaching 9.489 billion yen. Taking advantage of the introduction of satellite and cable TV in Japan, Mainichi Broadcasting invested in Japan Satellite Broadcasting in 1983. In 1989, Mainichi Broadcasting joined Sumitomo Corporation to invest in the establishment of SVN (Space Vision Network) and began to establish their own satellite TV channels. In 1993, SVN changed its name to Gaora and became a sports-oriented satellite TV channel.

Move to Chayamachi

The current company building was completed on September 1, 1990, on the site of the Hankyu Department Store Distribution Center in Chayamachi, Kita-ku, Osaka. Headquarters functions such as sales and accounting at Mainichi Osaka Kaikan, departments such as the news department at Senrioka Broadcasting Center, and some television and radio programs produced at Senrioka were moved to the new company building in Chayamachi. From that day, a special program was produced and broadcast for two days on television and five days on radio to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the station's opening and the start of broadcasting from the new building.

Since the grand opening on that day, most of the first floor has been used as an "atrium" (open space) for live broadcasting and recording of TV and radio programs and various events. The "MBS Goods Shop" (formerly "Mzono Shop", then "Nebula") and a branch of Tully's Coffee (originally a restaurant called "Starship" in 1990) also opened there. Upon opening, the second floor functioned as a concert hall under the name "Galaxy Hall". It was later converted into "Galaxy Studio" and used for live TV programs, public recordings, and events.