JAITS

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title: "JAITS" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["television-networks-in-japan", "independent-television-stations-in-japan", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1977"] description: "Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAITS" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox organization"]

Field	Value
name	Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations
language	Japanese
location_country	Japan
native_name_lang	ja
native name	全国独立放送協議会
abbreviation	JAITS
formation
::

| name = Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations | language = Japanese | location_country = Japan | native_name_lang = ja | native name = 全国独立放送協議会 | abbreviation = JAITS | formation = The Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS; ) is a group of Japan's reception fee-free commercial terrestrial television stations which are not members of the major national television networks. The association was established on 4 November 1977.

Its members sell to, buy from, and co-produce programmes with other members. While a few of them, namely Tokyo MX, TVK and Sun TV and sell more than the others, it does not mean the former control the others in programming. It forms a loose broadcast network without exclusivity. They form permanent and ad hoc subgroups for production and sales of advertising opportunity.

Name

The English name of the group is provisional. The Japanese documents for the association refer to the acronym JAITS but the fully spelled English name has not been disclosed yet.

In Japanese, the group was previously known as ja (), bearing the term UHF as all of the member stations broadcast on the UHF band in analogue, in contrast to major networks that primarily broadcast on the VHF band in analogue. All of the Japanese terrestrial television stations switched to UHF digital when all analog television transmissions (both VHF and UHF) were shut down between 24 July 2011 and 31 March 2012.

List of members

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/JAITS_ID_map_(en).png" caption="LCN]] assignments for JAITS members"] ::

Stations are listed in Japanese order of prefectures which is mirrored in ISO 3166-2:JP. ::data[format=table] | Broadcasting area(s) | Station | LCN | Start date of broadcast | Note(s) | Prefecture | Region | On air branding | Abbr. | Call sign | Tochigi TV | Gunma TV / GunTele | TV Saitama / Teletama | Chiba TV | Tokyo MX | TV Kanagawa | Gifu Hōsō / Gifu Chan | Mie TV | Biwako Hōsō | KBS Kyoto | Sun TV | Nara TV | TV Wakayama | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Tochigi | Kantō | GYT | JOGY-DTV | 3 | 1 April 1999 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gunma | Kantō | GTV | JOML-DTV | 3 | 16 April 1971 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Saitama | Kantō | TVS | JOUS-DTV | 3 | 1 April 1979 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chiba | Kantō | CTC | JOCL-DTV | 3 | 1 May 1971 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tokyo | Kantō | MX | JOMX-DTV | 9 | 1 November 1995 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kanagawa | Kantō | tvk | JOKM-DTV | 3 | 1 April 1972 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gifu | Chūbu | GBS | JOZF-DTV | 8 | 12 August 1968 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mie | Kansai | MTV | JOMH-DTV | 7 | 1 December 1969 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shiga | Kansai | BBC | JOBL-DTV | 3 | 1 April 1972 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kyoto | Kansai | KBS | JOBR-DTV | 5 | 1 April 1969 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hyōgo | Kansai | SUN | JOUH-DTV | 3 | 1 May 1969 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nara | Kansai | TVN | JONM-DTV | 9 | 1 April 1973 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wakayama | Kansai | WTV | JOOM-DTV | 5 | 1 April 1974 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

Characteristics of the independent stations

Degree of independence

In the strict (North American) definition of "not affiliated with any networks", the only independent terrestrial television station in Japan in recent times would have been The Open University of Japan, which produces almost all its programs in-house.

The JAITS and the Japanese public use the term "Independent UHF Station" () to refer to stations outside of the major commercial television networks, in which the flagship Tokyo-based stations control the majority of their affiliates' programming. Those networks are also affiliated with large national newspapers. On the other hand, the JAITS stations are often affiliated with prefectural or metropolitan newspapers (for example, a number of stations have investments from the Chunichi Shimbun) and prefectural governments, whose degree of influence may vary.

Due to the limited reach of the TX Network, a number of JAITS stations (such as MTV, GBS, BBC, TVN, and WTV) also broadcast a selection of programs syndicated from TV Tokyo or its affiliates.

Market

Their areas of coverage are located in Kantō, Chūkyō and Kansai regions which are the most urbanised in Japan. Their reachable population is relatively large, and these areas are thus able to support the presence of additional commercial stations beyond those of the major networks. However, much like independent stations outside Japan, the presence of major network stations and the cost of externally-sourced content tends to limit viewing ratings compared to their competitors. Multi-channel cable television may also cover significant parts of the areas.

Programming

Compared with the major networks, the independent stations have a relatively smaller audience, but have a more flexible schedule due to their decentralized nature.

Short-running anime productions (as little as one episode) are often broadcast by the independent stations, a concept which has been referred to as "UHF anime". They also sometimes run shopping programming, along with brokered programming such as infomercials and televangelism. In 2000, All Japan Pro Wrestling moved to JAITS affiliates after it ended its run on Nippon TV.

Notes

References

References

1. (1978). "NHK年鑑 1978年版". NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).
2. [http://www.mietv.com/showq/net6.html Tokyo-Osaka-Nagoya Intermetropolitan Network] ({{Langx. ja. 東・名・阪ネット6. Tō-Mei-Han Netto 6) {{webarchive. link. (2007-06-30)
3. . ["OUJ at a Glance: 2021/2022."](https://www.ouj.ac.jp/doc/en/OUJ_Brochure.pdf). *[[Open University of Japan]]*.

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