Daifu Co., Ltd. (æ ªå¼Âä¼Â社大å¯Â) is the owner of two Japanese television channels (Daifu Channel and Phoenix TV Japan) catering the Chinese diaspora in the country. Founded in 1998, it also deepens "Japanese people's understanding of China and the Chinese people" and plays a role in the establishment of friendly bilateral ChinaâÂÂJapan relations. In addition to its television channels, it also conducts video production, newspaper and magazine publishing, coordination, and communications services.
Daifu was established on February 20, 1998 with the aim of establishing what would become its flagship channel, Daifu Channel, by arranging a contract with China Central Television to relay part of CCTV-4's programs and add Japanese productions to cater the needs of the Chinese in Japan. The name Daifu is a contraction of two of its founding shareholders: Dai (大 on reading "dai") from à Âkura Zaibatsu (大åÂÂÃ¥ÂÂäºÂ) and Fu (å¯Â) from Fuji (å¯Â士, as in Fuji Television). A few weeks after CCTV-Daifu started broadcasting, à Âkura was declared bankrupt and the financial structure was partitioned between Dentsu, Fuji Television, Sony, Asatsu-DK and Kyocera.
Daifu published its own newspaper, Daifu News (大å¯Âå ±) in April 1999. Publication ceased in July 2005 after 151 issues. All issues are in the archives of the National Diet Library. On November 20, 2001, Daifu signed a contract with TVB's international arm TVBI to launch TVB Daifu, which started broadcasting on December 1, 2001. In February 2009, it acquired the Japanese version of Phoenix Television from Rakuraku Communications, with its new ownership starting on April 1.
TVB Daifu shut down on September 30, 2011. Daifu decided to cut its prices for the bundle as it was now carrying two channels instead of three.