page_title: Digital television transition in Japan
section_title: Shutdown of analog services
hierarchical_section_title: Digital television transition in Japan / Process / 2011 / Shutdown of analog services
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 日本のアナログ放送終了のお知らせ：総務省地デジコールセンターとOOOテレビ視聴者センターの電話番号では、ブルーバックにご覧になります。 English: Example of analog television termination warning seen in Japan. Phone numbers for Ministry of Internal Affairs Digital Television Helpline and television station inquiry center are placed on a blue background.
context_page_description: The digital television transition in Japan was the mandatory switchover from analog to digital terrestrial television broadcasting that began in 2008 and continued through early 2012. The switchover itself took place between 24 July 2011 and 31 March 2012, and involved television stations across all five major commercial networks, the entire network of NHK's broadcast transmitters, and television stations that are part of the JAITS group. Japan was the first country in eastern Asia to cease broadcasting television signals in analog.
context_section_description: On 1 July 2011, television stations across 44 of the 47 prefectures that were scheduled to shut down their analog services on the original date began displaying a countdown clock in the lower left corner of the screen indicating the number of days remaining until the analog services ended. Seventeen days later, the ministry's digital television call center hours were temporarily extended to accommodate additional inquiries.
  On 24 July 2011 at noon, regularly scheduled programming ended on all analog signals in 44 of the country's 47 prefectures, as well as on WOWOW and the NHK's BS1 and BS Premium channels (the Open University of Japan shuttered analog broadcasts three days earlier). The end of the transmission of regular programs took place minutes before the start of the third game of the 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series, which was being transmitted by TV Asahi. In addition, special episodes of Waratte Iitomo! (which was aired on Fuji Television) and other variety shows covering the digital transition were aired by other television stations. At the stroke of noon, all programming on the analog signal was replaced with a white-on-blue warning message signifying the end of regular programming, as well as the phone numbers of the digital television call center and the television station's inquiry helpline. This message, which varied between stations in different prefectures but maintained the same basic format, was aired continuously for about twelve hours; the transmitters themselves signed off the air shortly before midnight on that day (with stations in most areas airing legal sign-off notices as well). This was necessary because the ministry changed the transmitter shutoff time from noon to midnight due to technical reasons.
caption: Warning broadcast after the end of regular programming on the analog signal as broadcast by commercial stations.
exif: {}