Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting

In October 1969, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (currently the Ministry of Internal Communications) approved the fourth TV license in Hokkaido, which attracted 59 companies to apply. At that time, both the Hokkaido Shimbun and Fuji Television were interested in obtaining television licenses. With the help of the prefectural government of Hokkaido, the 59 applicant companies were then integrated into Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting centered on Hokkaido Shimbun and Fuji TV, and officially obtained a license in May 1971. The broadcaster was founded on June 19, 1971, and began trial broadcasts on January 14, 1972, prior to the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first of a kind in Asia.

At exactly 07:20am on April 1, 1972, UHB began broadcasting with "Today's Weather" being the first program to be broadcast. When it first commenced broadcasts, coverage area was just at 66% of households (initially at Sapporo, Hakodate, Asahikawa, and Muroran) and increased after half a year to 81.9% (expanding to Obihiro, Kushiro, and Abashiri). In 1981, Fuji TV assisted UHB in producing the TV drama series From The Northern Country (aired between 1981 and 2002), which was an unprecedented success. It achieved more than 20% in ratings, and also promoted tourism in the Furano area, where the drama is produced. In 1991, UHB becomes responsible for FNN's Moscow bureau. On October 1, 1983, UHB introduced its current logo featuring lowercase letters. They also started using an electronic news gathering (ENG) in 1982 and stereo sound and bilingual broadcasting in 1984 Digital terrestrial broadcasts commence in Sapporo on June 1, 2006, and ceased analog broadcasts on July 24, 2011.