Five major Tokyo-based private television networks will take turns airing daily coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer, sources close to the matter said Saturday.
The tie-up is intended to counter public broadcaster NHK, which has said it will televise the event from July 24 to Aug. 8, "the largest scale of its kind in history."
Out of the 15 days, other than the opening day, four days will be allocated to Nippon Television Network Corp., three days each to TV Asahi Corp., Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. and Fuji Television Network Inc., and two days to TV Tokyo Corp., according to the sources.
(File photo taken Oct. 10, 1964, shows the Olympic rings drawn by the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's acrobatic flight team Blue Impulse during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics.)
On a day when one network is in charge of airing the games from morning till late evening, the other stations will refrain from televising the event, the sources said.
NHK and the five networks, which have jointly won the broadcasting rights of the Tokyo games from the International Olympic Committee, will discuss and decide which company will broadcast which competitions.
NHK will air competitions on 4K and 8K ultra-high-definition satellite channels and the internet, while the private networks are planning on jointly distributing the programs on the internet and broadcasting them on 4K satellite channels.
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