Image copyright Dhaval Jani on Flickr. Some rights reserved

NHK, Japan’s public service broadcaster, has expanded into the US market with the launch of a 24/7 English-language news channel for New York residents.

In a statement announcing the launch, Tetsushi Wakita, head of NHK WORLD, said the launch would help fill the gap in the market left by US media organisations closing or downsizing their bureaus in Tokyo.

NHK WORLD TV is expanding to New York because we believe there is a market for a US audience interested in Asian programming, focusing on breaking news from the region, Japanese culture, developments in society/politics and on being a key source for natural disasters news.

The new channel will broadcast to approximately 7 million people in the New York area and Newsline, a 30 minute round-up of Asian news, will be broadcast nightly on the Regional News Network. The channel already broadcasts in the UK on Freesat and Sky and has a total European audience of 76.1 million.

Updated April 24 with information about UK broadcasts  and European viewing figures.