Aso Broadcasting System

The Aso Broadcasting System is a Japanese television network. It has officially noted itself as the first English-language television network in its country. The station is owned and operated by Kabushiki Gaisha ABS.

History
ABS started broadcasting on the 1st of October 1987. The station launched as the first English-language television network in Japan, to great fanfare from the English-speaking population of Japan. The station started broadcasting on channel 10 in Tokyo.

The station's early programming lineup mostly consisted of subtitled programmes from Nippon Television and TV Asahi. ABS also produced it's own news programmes under the name "ABS N6", and was broadcast across the network nationwide at 6pm on weekdays (hence the "N6" name). This programme became ABS's flagship newscast, and is still airing today.

In 1995, ABS launched ABS Sat1, a BS broadcast satellite channel which acts as the network's main national feed.

The station launched its international outside broadcast satellite service on September 15, 1997. ABS claims that the service was launched "to give the world a taste of Japan's most unique entertainment, and news from a Japanese viewpoint, all in the English language". The same year also marked ABS's 10th year of operation.

ABS HD was launched as a 1080i high definition simulcast of ABS's national feed on the 15th of April 2007 as part of the station's 20th anniversary. The service shut down in 2011, when the main ABS television channel started airing in full 1080p HD.

At noon on the 29th of August 2011, ABS ceased analog television transmissions on channel 10, after 24 years of operation. The analog transmitter, along with ABS HD, were taken offline at midnight on that day.

Criticism
Kabushiki Gaisha ABS and their services have often been the centre of controversy.

Carriage disputes
ABS has been involved in a number of disputes with international cable and satellite carriers:
 * October 2008 saw ABS International being pulled by Airtel, Tata Sky, and many other cable and satellite providers in India owing to controversy surrounding Crayon Shin-Chan. The show, broadcast by ABS until then, was originally broadcast in Japanese by TV Asahi. Indian authorities had forced a Hindi-dubbed version of the same show, airing on Hungama Television, off the air at that same time. The show was entirely banned due to "excessive use of expletives and sexual references that should not be in a children's programme in the first place", in the words of an ABS N6 reporter on that day. The head of Kabushiki Gaisha ABS explained to disgruntled viewers that "we only broadcast the show to continue our relationship with TV Asahi", He said that "the show will be taken off the air until further notice and TV Asahi staff have been notified of the decision". He then commented that "Japanese broadcasting standards vary to many degrees when compared to those of other countries, and they govern the ABS International network unless we state otherwise". ABS dropped the show (replacing it with further airings of Doraemon, also taken from TV Asahi) and ABS International was put back on the air on the 5th of November. Unlike ABS, Hungama eventually placed the show back on their schedule on the 27th of March 2009.


 * ABS Mexico dispute slide July 2012.png July 10, 2012, ABS noticed that their international service was being pulled by Cablevision and a number of satellite providers in Mexico due to carriage rate disputes. The Mexican cable providers approached Kabushiki Gaisha ABS with requests to continue broadcasting the channel during talks, but received no response. Therefore, ABS ceased transmission to Mexican viewers. The negotiations continued until August 7, when Total Play put ABS International back on their channel listings. Cablevision and the other satellite providers followed suit the next day.
 * On July 11, 2012, DirecTV (a satellite television provider in the US) stated that they had accidentally taken ABS International off their platform mistaking it for one of 26 channels owned by Viacom, who had engaged DirecTV in a similar dispute on the same date as ABS's Mexican dispute. They announced that ABS International had been put back on the air the following day.
 * On October 21, 2014, Dish Network (another satellite television provider in the US) stated that they had accidentally taken ABS International off their platform mistaking it for one of 7 channels owned by Turner Broadcasting, who were in a carriage dispute that same day against the Dish Network. ABS International was put back on the air the following day.

Analog shutoff controversy
After the Great Kanto Earthquake (and subsequent tsunami), Kabushiki Gaisha ABS announced that JOBX-TV would continue to broadcast from their analog transmitters past the planned shutoff date of the 24th of July 2011. The station was warned that their analog transmitter would have to shut down at midnight that day, but ABS ignored the order, and continued operating its service on analog channel 10 past that date. On the 27th of August, ABS noticed that a large number of temporary kouban (small police stations) placed outside their transmission building in the foothills of Gunma Prefecture. The following day, S.W.A.T. teams and riot police carriers were parked outside the building. On the 29th of August, police officers left their temporary kouban, and told ABS to turn off their analog transmitter. They obliged, and ended programming on analog television at noon, eventually turning off the analog transmitter entirely at midnight. The botched digital transition cost Kabushiki Gaisha ABS over ¥50 million ($475,000) in fines.

Logos
ABS has used the same logo since its launch in 1987. ABS staff commonly referred to it as the "mountain" owing to its shape. The logo has been updated twice over the years for what ABS deems to be a part of its "more streamlined" branding package.