Animax

Animax Broadcast Japan Inc. (アニマックス, Animakkusu), stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and Mitsui & Co.'s joint venture AK Holdings, it is headquartered in New Pier Takeshiba North Tower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan and the noted animation studios Sunrise, Toei Animation, TMS Entertainment and production company NAS.

Animax is the first and largest 24-hour network in the world dedicated to anime.

Animax operates as separate 24-hour TV channels for Japan, Asia (four separate feeds for South East Asia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and South Korea, in addition to VOD platforms in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Japan
Established on May 20, 1998, by Sony, Animax Broadcast Japan Inc. (株式会社アニマックスブロードキャスト・ジャパン, Kabushiki-gaisha Animakkusu Burōdokyasuto Japan) originally premiered in Japan on July 1, the same year, across the SKY PerfecTV! satellite television platform. Headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and presided by Masao Takiyama, Animax's shareholders and founders include Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan), Sunrise, Toei Animation, TMS Entertainment, and NAS. Its founders also include noted anime producer and production designer Yoshirō Kataoka. The network began broadcasting in high definition from October 2009.

Animax also exhibits affiliations with anime pioneer Osamu Tezuka's Tezuka Productions company, Pierrot, Nippon Animation, and numerous others. It has produced and exclusively premiered several anime in Japan, such as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Ultra Maniac, Astro Boy, Hungry Heart: Wild Striker, Aishiteruze Baby, and many others, including Madhouse's anime adaptations of Marvel's Iron Man, Wolverine, and X-Men.

Noted Japanese celebrities and personalities to have appeared on Animax with their own programs, include actress Natsuki Katō, among numerous others. The network's narrators are the voice actors Yukari Tamura and Kōsuke Okano, and from October 2007, Sayuri Yahagi. Animax also hosts and organizes several anime-based competitions across Japan, such as the Animax Taishō scriptwriting competition and Animax Anison Grand Prix anime song music competition, which are judged by a panel of noted anime figures, as well as several events and concerts across Japan, such as the annual Animax Summer Fest (アニマックスサマーフェス, Animakkusu Samāfesu), an annual live concert during which renowned Japanese bands, artists and voice actors perform to a live audience, often held at Zepp Tokyo.

Apart from operating its business primarily as a television network, Animax has also begun operating a mobile television service. In February 2007, Animax announced that it would be launching a mobile television service of its network on the mobile phone company from April 2007, having its programming being viewable by the company's mobile phone subscribers.