St. GIGA

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Satellite Digital Audio Broadcast Co., Ltd., also known as St. GIGA, was a Japanese satellite radio company most known for co-developing the Satellaview, a peripheral for the Super Famicom that enabled games to be downloaded and played by way of satellite broadcast, with Nintendo. They were also responsible for developing the various "BS" titles for the peripheral, including BS The Legend of Zelda, Ancient Stone Tablets, and a port of A Link to the Past.

History

St. GIGA was founded on April 2, 1990 as a satellite radio broadcasting company subsidiary of the Japanese satellite television company, WOWOW.[1] After partnering with Nintendo, who owned a 19.5% ownership stake in the company,[2] St. GIGA would co-develop the Satellaview, starting broadcasts for the peripheral on April 23, 1995. These airings included many games, such as the BS The Legend of Zelda and BS Mario series, along with digital magazines and other media. This partnership would last until 1998, when Nintendo withdrew five of its executive staff from the company and pulled all content plans for the Satellaview alongside other content providers like Kyocera following St. GIGA's rejection of a debt management plan and failure to renew its government satellite broadcasting license by a deadline.[3][4] As Nintendo halted supplying new content for the peripheral in March 1999, St. GIGA would continue broadcasting reruns of previously-transmitted games until June 30, 2000, when the company officially discontinued broadcasts for the Satellaview.[3]

Nearing bankruptcy in 2001, St.GIGA would merge with WireBee, Inc. and be renamed to Club COSMO in 2003.[5][6] Their broadcasts would continue until October 2003, when WireBee sold its licensing rights to World Independent Networks Japan (WINJ) and went bankrupt.[7] WINJ would begin broadcasting reruns of the company's previous "Time & Tide" and "Tide of Sound" broadcasts in 2006, but, after suspending these broadcasts in November of the same year, the then-Minister of Internal Affairs, Hiroya Masuda, later revoked their broadcasting certificate on November 14, 2007.[8]

Trivia

  • Each of the first six Dungeons in the first BS The Legend of Zelda quest are in the shape of a letter. When put together, it spells out St.GIGA.
    • The map pieces that spell out St. Giga

Nomenclature

TMC Forest Minish Artwork.png Names in Other Regions TMC Jabber Nut Sprite.png
Language Name
Japan Japanese セント・ギガ (Sento Giga)

Gallery

  • St. GIGA's broadcasting headquarters

    St. GIGA's broadcasting headquarters

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 セント・ギガの歴史 , stgiga.jp (Internet Archive), retrieved March 6, 2014.
  2. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=YAgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA78&vq=billboard%20magazine%20july%2023%2C%201994&dq=billboard%20magazine%20july%2023%2C%201994%23v%3Donepage&pg=PA78#v=snippet&q=st.giga&f=false
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20110812080226/http://belarus.8m.com/1/cnn060001.html
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200124002906/https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/08/22/giga-bites-the-dust
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20201226223215/http://www.radionikkei.jp/webmaster/entry-72888.html
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151008084322/http://ascii.jp/elem/000/000/330/330849/
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20070819214825/http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~cjq24190/insolvent%20cases/24civil02.html
  8. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120419160458/https://blogs.itmedia.co.jp/showbiz/2007/09/bswinj_8595.html
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