The Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB) canceled press passes for Fuji Television Network Inc. for the first and second games of the Japan Series championships held on Oct. 26 and 27, sources close to the matter have revealed.

It is believed that Fuji Television's decision to air a digest program on the Major League Baseball's World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers while other networks were set to broadcast the first and second games of the Japan Series live led to this response.

According to sources, Fuji Television was stripped of its passes to cover the entire Japan Series before the first game was held at Yokohama Stadium, home field of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, on Oct. 26.

Television Nishinippon Corp. (TNC), a local TV station affiliated with Fuji Network System in Fukuoka where the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are based, was apparently still granted press passes as it is a separate company from Fuji Television. However, on TNC's passes, the space that typically indicates the key station a firm is affiliated with, "Fuji Television," was blacked out with a marker.

An NPB executive stated, "It doesn't make sense to specifically schedule a World Series program on a different channel in a competing timeslot against a series that determines the best team in Japan, especially considering the entire Japanese baseball community, including sponsors, is involved."

Meanwhile, Fuji Television aired the third game held at Mizuho PayPay Dome in the city of Fukuoka on Oct. 29 live, as scheduled, as it was under a broadcasting agreement separate from their coverage of the other games. Fuji Television's corporate communications department told the Mainichi Shimbun regarding the cancellation of the press passes, "We can't comment on production details."

Kenta Yamada, a professor of media studies at Senshu University, said of the Japan Series, "It's essentially a national event and is highly public on its own. Even if it's an event managed by a private entity, coverage and reporting (of the event) should be as open as possible." On the NPB's response, Yamada stated, "If they have unilaterally decided to deny a particular news organization the opportunity to cover it (the Japan Series), that is extremely regrettable and problematic."

(Japanese original by Yu Kishimoto, Tokyo Sports News Department, Hiroki Hayashi, Kyushu Sports News Department, and Koichi Ogino, Osaka Sports News Department)