Digital media company, Getty Images, will partner with Japan’s only public broadcaster, NHK International, to distribute NHK’s video content to over 1.5 million global customers.

The new collection, NHK Video Bank, includes NHK’s HD material, news and feature programs, documentaries, drama series and animations. The collection spans a variety of topics, from science and technology, nature and wildlife, to culture, lifestyle and locations.

“As the innovator and global leader in visual communications, Getty Images sets the standard for superior content creation and distribution the world over,” says Jonathan Klein, Co-founder and CEO of Getty Images.

“Millions of customers come to Getty Images every day for the most inspiring, innovative and powerful imagery to bring their projects to life and move the world with pictures.  We are thrilled to enrich Getty Images’ comprehensive video offering of over two million unique clips with NHK’s exceptional collection of Japanese and other Asian content,”He adds.

NHK Video Bank includes special collections such as the renowned Silk Road series, and features footage of global environmental issues, from retreating glaciers to the deforestation of the Amazon Basin, as well as coverage of natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Other highlights include the world’s first HD footage of the moon’s surface captured from the Kaguya moon-orbiter, and Nippon News, an invaluable historical record of the Pacific front during WWII, available in high definition with English scripts and metadata.

“Every day, the NHK Archives adds many more high-quality HD programs and news images shot by NHK to its vast stock. We are delighted that these images now reach content producers all over the world through the Getty Images network. For more superb footage, please search for ‘NHK Video Bank’,” says Tadao Sakomizu, Managing Director of NHK International.

Getty Images also offers customers the ability to conduct deep file search to unearth historic material from the NHK Archives. The main archive in Kawaguchi and sub-archives in broadcasting stations around the country together hold approximately 850,000 programs and 6 million news clips, dating as far back as 1953. About half of these have been converted into digital format so far.

The partnership follows the announcement of Getty Images’ exclusive global distribution partnership with the world-renowned BBC Motion Gallery. Getty Images offers video content from over 400 well-known collections, including partnerships with leading media houses including Sky News, Universal Studios, AFP and Bloomberg, as well as Getty Images’ own video offering.