Of the top ten rated programs in 2006, all but two were sports, ranging in ratings from 31.8% for the Torino Winter Olympics in February (NHK) to 51.7% for the Japan-Croatia match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in June (TV Asahi). The only two nonsports programs were the traditional New Year’s eve song fiesta Kohaku Utagassen (NHK) placing 5th with 39.8% and Studio Ghibli’s Ghedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea), featuring anime for theater, directed by Hayao Miyazaki’s son Goro, on Nippon TV with 32.9%, placing 9th. NHK’s Kohaku, labeled as the national program for decades, used to register impressive ratings of over 80% during the 60s – but no more. Within the sports genre, though, pro baseball games of Yomiuri Giants, once the NTV killer program, with average ratings of over 20% during prime time until the mid-1990s, today barely achieve two-digit ratings. NTV slashed live broadcasting of Giants games by 30% from 2006 to 40 games or the history’s lowest in 2007, letting its satellite cousin, Nittele G plus, carry all 72 games held at the club’s home stadium, Tokyo Dome. Other terrestrial networks that used to