The YTVization of Japanese TV (or Shinoby Goes Forth or Yomiuri's Bacterial Contamination)

Based loosely on Mobiyuz's timeline *Kaikoku: The "Open Country"**.*
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Of all the Japanese media empires that swallowed up smaller companies, the Yomiuri Shimbun were the most aggressive in their strategies of acquisition and rebranding. First to join the Yomiuri family was Chukyo TV. The original plan had been to do away with the Chukyo name altogether and rebrand as "YTV Central", but the CEO thought that goodwill towards CTV would mean resistance to such a radical move. But while the network's mascot, programming, and name were saved, CTV's presentation style and unfortunately many of it's presentation staff were rejected in 2013 in flavor of "Yomiuri Saikin Osen" (読売細菌汚染, Yomiuri's Bacterial Contamination; cheekily referencing a song of popular Japanese virtual singer Miku Hatsune), as it was unofficially known in Japan, while it was known as "YTVization" among the worldwide logo community.

Chukyo TV rebranded as YTV Chukyo in 2013, sporting a pink version of YTV's logo in the process.

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After YTV made idents for the Tokai market, they also created idents for its Hokkai Territories outpost, STV. Their logo was the same as YTV Nippon, but it read "Sapporo" instead of "Nippon", in the same font as the YTV logo and in maroon. There was no sign of the STV wordmark; only station mascot Dosanko-kun survived the chaos.

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Next on YTV's "Death Note" was RNC, the smallest YTV station serving a major city; in this case the Okayama-Kagawa area. RNC was forced to get rid of its sharp, angled 1985 logo and replace it with its version of the YTV regional logo, carrying over the blue of the past and station mascot Ran-chan to represent the present with the YTV name of the future and rebranding as "YTV Nishinippon".

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Later, YTV continued to expand into Shikoku and acquired Nankai Broadcasting and the station was forced to remove its logo in favour of the 'YTVization'. RNB was officially renamed "YTV Nankai" on all its presentation. However, station mascot Wit remained.

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Oh My God, even the Tohoku stations got YTVized. Radio Aomori Broadcasting was acquired by the Yomiuri Shimbun and this was the result: the station adopted the YTV Corporate Look. In 2013, the RAB name was consigned into history and it became just "YTV Aomori" with only RAB blue and Raburin the apple getting away unscathed.

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When 2013 rolled around this horror was seen on screens in Sendai wearing MMT's orange. YTV viewers in Osaka had become used to it since 2013 but this was, in reality, the end of MMT.

In 2015 the YTV "ten balls" ident was introduced and that was that. After forty five years of service to the people of Sendai, MMT was no more. Now, it was known merely as YTV Sendai. The name does live on though in all local programming, and the station's mascots Mite and Dayon, but production has been subsumed within the Yomiuri behemoth.

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Oh, no, the big monster that is Yomiuri's Bacterial Contamination (YTVization if you're in the West) has arrived at the house of Fukuoka Broadcasting! The Yomiuri Shimbun launched a hostile takeover bid for their remaining shares of FBS from Kyuden and it was successful. As a result, FBS dropped its logo and adopted its version of the YTV logo and branding, only retaining the red color scheme and the anthropomorphic blob of pollock roe that was its mascot, Yumenta.

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Even good ol' Echigo didn't escape. YTV's Niigata station, TeNY was forced to drop its only-recently-debuted "teddy bear" logo and adopted its own version of YTV's graphic package. The station lost a huge part of its identity and was renamed YTV Niigata on all its presentation (excluding the station's mascot, Tetto-kun)

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Next stop: Shizuoka and Hamamatsu. YTV forced Shizuoka Daiichi Television to adopt its version of the YTV "balls" idents, being renamed "YTV Shizuoka" and "YTV Hamamatsu" on all its presentation. Here's the variant for Shizuoka.

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And here is Hamamatsu's variant. SDT green and mascots Dai and Ai were left alone.

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Kagoshima already had a station using Yomiuri's name, but that was deemed insufficient by the bigwigs over at the Shimbun. Thus the KYT logo was replaced by its own version of the YTV "ten balls". Consequently KYT was renamed "YTV Kagoshima" on all its presentation (excluding Mr. Yamamoto, the network's mascot).

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Despite many discussions, YTV managed to fully acquire Radio Okinawa from the American Forces Network. As a result, ROK was forced to retire its logo and adopt its version of the 2008 YTV idents. The ROK name was confined to history and the station was renamed "YTV Ryukyu", excluding MilkCan (which was still allowed to be licensed from Sony).

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Hiroshima Television was also victim of the "Yomiuri Saikin Osen" and was forced to retire its "Hirotele!" logo (albeit keeping the red) and adopt its own version of the 2013 logo. Not much changed; the talents were unaffected, and HTV's mascot was still a chick, but the station was now known as "YTV Hiroshima".

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The Taiwan stations were are struck down by YTV's fatest growing movement and TTV, KHK and MNT were forced to replace their logos with their versions of the new parent company's 2008 idents. In 2015, all three stations were renamed respectively as "YTV Taihoku", "YTV Karenko" and "YTV Takao".

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YTV was getting homogenized and turned into a mass media company at the British ITV's level with the rebranding of Television Kanazawa. As a result, KTK dropped its 1990 logo and adopted its version of YTV's 2008 graphic package. The station was renamed "YTV Hokuriku" on all its presentation, excluding KTK blue and the mochi stack mascots known as the Telekin-chan.

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End of the line: Nittele was forced the replace its logo with its version of the 2008 YTV idents. Nittele do Bear and Nandarou were excused, and NTV black lingered on.

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With all NNN stations now owned by the Yomiuri Shimbun, the NNN network adopted its version of YTV's ident package and presentation package, being renamed "Yomiuri News Network" in 2018.

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And the sign of doom on Japanese television. Now in 2023, the stations were renamed for their respective regions, and the color-coding was dropped, but the mascots were allowed to remain to preserve what was left.