TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Both Nippon Professional Baseball and Fuji Television Network Inc. have come under criticism for decisions they made during the recently concluded Japan Series.

At issue was Fuji's decision to rebroadcast World Series Games 1, 2, 4 and 5 when other rights holders were airing live broadcasts of the Japan Series, and NPB's decision to punish the network by stripping its accreditation.

Fuji, along with public broadcaster NHK, aired the World Series games, featuring popular Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani live in the mornings.

Except for Game 3 of the Japan Series, which Fuji broadcast live, the network's evening digests of each morning's World Series games were in direct competition with Japan's season finale.

NPB declined to comment on its withdrawal of Fuji's Japan Series credentials.

"Programing rights rest with the programing section of each TV network, and it is overstepping one's authority to rescind them," said Takahiko Kageyama, a professor at Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts.

Backed by Ohtani's popularity, the ratings for Fuji's World Series' Game 1 evening digest were 8.1 percent, and 8.2 percent for the title-clinching Game 5, approaching the 10 percent-plus ratings for those night's live Japan Series games.

"Fuji had the World Series exactly when the most important series of Japanese baseball was on," Kageyama said. "I believe other networks wanted to limit the time both series were aired simultaneously to 30 minutes or an hour at most."

In this manner, Fuji appeared to have broken the media world's "unwritten rules."

Kageyama added that NPB's action against Fuji was derived from the potential effects on other TV stations and Japan Series sponsors but said NPB crossed the line.

"NPB and media outlets have to create some kind of rule," he said.