TV Tokyo has a long history in Japanese television broadcasting. Originally founded in 1951 as a venture of the Japanese Science Promotion Foundation, the channel went on the air in 1964 as broadcaster of educational programming. After a change of ownership in the late 1960s, the channel was rebranded in 1973 as "Tokyo 12 Channel," and it changed its programming focus from education to mainstream entertainment. The channel's name change to TV Tokyo happened in 1983.
Although TV Tokyo has continued to broadcast public affairs, news and documentary programming, its primary is on entertainment, drama and music, and its programming schedule is especially rich in anime series and programming aimed at children. This programming focus, combined with TV Tokyo's availability via satellite around the world, make the channel one of the most popular sources of anime programming in markets outside Japan.
