The mass media in Belgium is characterized by its diversity due to the linguistic divide in the country.

Radio and television

Radio and television regulation are regional competencies.

Radio

In 1998, Belgium had 79 FM radio stations, 7 AM stations and 1 SW station, serving 8.075 million radios owned in the country. Transmission is primary by terrestrial broadcast antenna. Analogue transmissions are provided by Norkring Belgium, Broadcast Partners, D'Hont Noël and TVVV Sound. Digital transmissions are provided by Norkring Belgium. Digital cable operators and internet providers also provide radio signals. Satellite transmission is provided by TV Vlaanderen. Public radio in Belgium is controlled by the VRT for the Dutch-speaking region (

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) the

RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

for the French-speaking region (

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and Brussels) and the BRF for the German community in Belgium. Numerous private operators exist. The main competitor in the Flanders and Brussels regions is VMMa. The main competitor in the Wallonia and Brussels regions is

RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France and ...

. Next to these regional channels, local channels exists. E.g. Radio 2 Limburg and GO FM. In 2009 radio market share in the Dutch-speaking region was 63.08% for the VRT channels (

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

, Radio 2, MNM,

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...

and Klara, 23.13% for the VMMa channels (Q-Music and Joe FM) and 2.65% for the Corelio/Concentra joint venture channel (

Radio Nostalgie Nostalgie is a popular French radio station broadcasting on FM, mostly playing pre-2000s songs with 76% of them coming from the 1980s. Nostalgie is part of the NRJ Group. History Radio Nostalgie, now simply Nostalgie, was created on 16 Septembe ...

Publicity management

Radio advertising is managed in house in most cases. Two radio advertising agencies operate, Vlaamse Audiovisuele Regie and IP Plurimedia.

Television

Transmission is primary by fiberoptic or coax

cable network Networking cables are networking hardware used to connect one network device to other network devices or to connect two or more computers to share devices such as printers or scanners. Different types of network cables, such as coaxial cable, opt ...

( DVB-C) or copper

telephone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or ot ...

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...

). Terrestrial transmission (

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...

) also exists. In terms of television, there were 25 broadcast stations in 1997, and a further 10 repeaters. This digital terrestrial network is owned by Norking Belgium. Small operators of analog networks exist. Satellite transmission ( DVB-S) in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia is operated by Airfield Belgium or Digidream. MNO's

Proximus Proximus (stylised as pro⌘imus; formerly known as Belgacom Mobile) is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is a part of Proximus Group (previously Belgacom Group). It competes with Orange Belgium and Base. H ...

and

Mobistar Orange Belgium (known as Orange) is a Belgian telecommunications company. It competes with Proximus and Base. It was incorporated by France Télécom in 1996 under the name of Mobistar. The company re-branded as Orange on 9 May 2016 (following ...

offer digital television over mobile phone (

DVB-H DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) is one of three prevalent mobile TV formats. It is a technical specification for bringing broadcast services to mobile handsets. DVB-H was formally adopted as ETSI standard EN 302 304 in November 20 ...

). In 1997, 4.72 million televisions were owned nationwide.

Public television Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

in Belgium is controlled by the VRT for the Dutch-speaking region (

and

) the

for the French-speaking region (

and Brussels) and the BRF for the German community in Belgium. Numerous private operators exist. The main competitors in the Flanders and Brussels regions are VMMa and

SBS Belgium Play4 is a Belgian-Flemish commercial television channel. It is part of SBS Belgium and production company Woestijnvis. As of 2010, the channel has a market share of more than 7%. The channel was formerly known as VIER from 17 September 2012 ...

. VMMa is a joint venture of

De Persgroep DPG Media Group is a Belgian media company also active in the Netherlands and Denmark. It is owned by the Van Thillo family and employs some 6,000 people. Divisions The DPG Media Group operates through three national subsidiaries: * DPG Media ...

and Roularta Media Group. The main competitors in the Wallonia and Brussels regions are

and

AB Groupe Mediawan Thematics (formerly known as AB Groupe) is a French business group in the field of broadcasting. It was founded in 1977 by Jean-Luc Azoulay and Claude Berda as a music production company, and in 1987 went into the world of television. ...

. Next to these regional channels, local channels exists. E.g. TV Oost and ROB TV. In Flanders, VRT channels (

Eén Eén (stylized as één; en, "one") is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadca ...

Canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

and

Ketnet Ketnet is a Dutch-language public children's television channel in Belgium owned and operated by the VRT, Flemish public broadcaster. It broadcasts a mix of locally produced and imported productions on the VRT3 channel from 6am until 8pm. On 1 D ...

OP12 OP12 (English: On 12) was the third channel of Belgium's VRT that featured evening broadcasts. The channel was launched on May 14, 2012 and closed on December 31, 2014. The channel's name was derived from the digital channel number that the s ...

) had a combined market share of 42.0% in 2012, VMMa channels ( Vtm, 2BE,

Vitaya VTM 3 is a Flemish television station. The station got its license for 9 years in 1999 and it started to broadcast on 25 August 2000. VTM3 can be seen on Flemish cable and satellite services. The station is part of DPG Media (formerly Medialaan, ...

and vtmKzoom) 28.8%, SBS Belgium channels (

VIER Play4 is a Belgian-Flemish commercial television channel. It is part of SBS Belgium and production company Woestijnvis. As of 2010, the channel has a market share of more than 7%. The channel was formerly known as VIER from 17 September 2012 t ...

and

VIJF Play5 started in October 2004 as SBS Belgium's second channel and a sister channel to VIER (formerly VT4). History On 1 October 2004, the first broadcast was that of a soccer game, even though women are the channel's target audience. By doin ...

) 10.5% and

Concentra Concentra Inc., is a national health care establishment founded in 1979 in Amarillo, Texas. The headquarters of the corporation is in Addison, Texas and runs approximately 520 urgent care locations across 44 states. The company is linked with ove ...

(Acht) 0.5%. There are numerous public and private media companies that specialise as producer or distributor of channels, content and video services. E.g.

Studio 100 Studio 100 is a Belgian production company with four television channels, four animation studios and 8 theme parks around the world. The headquarters of the group is based in Schelle, with offices in Breda, Munich, Paris, New York, Sydney and Lo ...

and

Woestijnvis Woestijnvis (literally: ''Desert Fish'') is an independent Flemish television production company based in Vilvoorde. History The name of the company refers to a famous mistake of a quiz-candidate in the Flemish version of Wheel of Fortune: the re ...

Production facility providers

There are numerous public and private media companies that specialise as producer or distributor of television production facilities. e.g. Videohouse.

Printed press

Major newspapers and magazines in Belgium are printed monolingual either in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

or in French. Bilingual publications are very minor. Belgium's major

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

Belga (news agency) Belga is a Belgian news agency which was founded in 1920 as the ''Agence télégraphique belge de presse'' by Pierre-Marie Olivier and Maurice Travailleur. The agency was based in Schaerbeek (French language, French and History of Dutch ort ...

. Minor news agencies exist. Belgium's major photo agencies are Scripta, IP Plurimedia or Mediashake.

Newspapers

Major Dutch-language daily newspapers in 2008 were ''

Het Laatste Nieuws ''Het Laatste Nieuws'' (; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and ...

'' (De Persgroep) (30.96%), ''

Het Nieuwsblad ''Het Nieuwsblad'' (; en, The Newspaper) is a Flemish newspaper that mainly focusses on "a broad view" regarding politics, culture, economics, lifestyle, society and sports. History and profile In 1929, ''Het Nieuwsblad'' was published by ...

'' (Corelio) (27.04%), ''

Gazet van Antwerpen The ''Gazet van Antwerpen'' (Antwerp Gazette, popularly named ''De Frut'', "sour head cheese") is a Belgian newspaper in Antwerp and Flanders, published by Concentra. History and profile ''Gazet van Antwerpen'' was established in 1891. Its edit ...

'' (Concentra) (11.27%), ''

Het Belang van Limburg ''Het Belang van Limburg'' (Dutch; literally ''The Interest of Limburg'') is a Dutch language regional newspaper in Belgium. History and profile ''Het Belang van Limburg'' was founded in 1933 as a merger of several weekly magazines. The paper ...

'' (Concentra) (10.71%), ''

De Standaard ''De Standaard'' (meaning ''The Standard'' in English) is a Flemish daily newspaper published in Belgium by Mediahuis (formerly Corelio and VUM). It was traditionally a Christian-Democratic paper, associated with the Christian-Democratic and F ...

'' (Corelio) (9.95%), ''

De Morgen ''De Morgen'' (Dutch for ''The Morning'') is a Flemish newspaper with a circulation of 53,860. The paper is published in Antwerp, Belgium. History and profile ''De Morgen'' originates from a merger in 1978 of two socialist newspapers ' (meaning ...

'' (De Persgroep) (5.99%) and ''

De Tijd ''De Tijd'' (, ''The Times'') is a Belgian newspaper that mainly focuses on business and economics. It is printed on salmon pink paper since May 2009, following the example of its colleagues ''Financial Times'', ''Het Financieele Dagblad'', '' FT ...

'' (

Mediafin Mediafin is a Belgian media group. The company was established in 2005 when it was bought by De Persgroep and Rossel. Its name was switched from Publisher Tijd to Mediafin. De Persgroep and Rossel hold a fifty percent stake in Mediafin. In 2018 ...

) (4.08%). Mediafin is a joint venture of De Persgroep and Groupe Rossel. Major French-language daily newspapers in 2008 were ''

La Dernière Heure ''La Dernière Heure'' (The Latest Hour) and ''Les Sports'' (sometimes referred to as ''La DH'') is a French-language daily newspaper published in Brussels, Belgium. The paper is known for news and sports. History and profile ''La DH'' was est ...

'' (IPM) (16.1%), ''

Le Soir ''Le Soir'' (, "The Evening") is a French-language Belgian daily newspaper. Founded in 1887 by Emile Rossel, it was intended as a politically independent source of news. It is one of the most popular Francophone newspapers in Belgium, competing ...

'' (Groupe Rossel) (16.0%), '' L'Avenir '' (Corelio) (15.8%), ''

La Libre Belgique ''La Libre Belgique'' (; literally ''The Free Belgium''), currently sold under the name ''La Libre'', is a major daily newspaper in Belgium. Together with ''Le Soir'', it is one of the country's major French language newspapers and is popular in ...

'' (IPM) (8.3%), ''

L'Echo ''L'Echo'' is a Belgian business newspaper, published by Mediafin and mainly distributed in Wallonia and Brussels. It is the French counterpart of the Flemish daily ''De Tijd'' which is its sister paper. History and profile ''L'Echo'' originat ...

'' (Mediafin) (3.7%) and '' La Meuse'' (Groupe Rossel), ''

La Capitale ''La Capitale'' is a Belgian daily regional newspaper, specializing in the region around Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English na ...

'' (Groupe Rossel), ''

La Nouvelle Gazette LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' (Groupe Rossel), ''

La Province LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' (Groupe Rossel) and ''Nord éclair'' (Belgian edition of ''

Nord éclair ''Nord éclair'' is a French language regional newspaper in Roubaix, France, that has been in circulation since 1944. History and profile ''Nord éclair'' was first published on 5 September 1944. The paper has its headquarters in Roubaix and is ...

''; Groupe Rossel) (22.0%). The only major German-language daily newspaper in 2008 was ''

Grenz-Echo ''Grenz-Echo'' is the only German language daily newspaper published in Eupen, Belgium, aimed at the German-speaking community and the neighbouring areas in the east of the country. History and profile ''Grenz-Echo'' was first published in June ...

'' (Groupe Rossel). ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

'' (Concentra) is a major daily free newspaper in a Dutch and French edition. ''

The Brussels Times ''The Brussels Times'' is an English-language Belgian news website and magazine, headquartered at Avenue Louise in Brussels. It was founded in 1965. It serves Belgium, particularly covering Brussels and many European countries. It originates fr ...

'' is the leading daily online newspaper in English. They also publish an English language printed magazine.

Magazines

Major Dutch-language weekly magazines in 2008 included ''Kerk en Leven'' (Drukkerij en Uitgeverij Halewijn) (409,817), ''Dag Allemaal'' (402,097), ''

HUMO ''HUMO'' is a popular Dutch-language Belgian weekly radio and television supermarket tabloid. History and profile ''Humoradio'' (meaning a portmanteau of 'humor' and 'radio' in English) was first published in 1936 as a Dutch-language counterpar ...

'' (227,614), '' Libelle '' (

DPG Media DPG Media Group is a Belgian media company also active in the Netherlands and Denmark. It is owned by the Van Thillo family and employs some 6,000 people. Divisions The DPG Media Group operates through three national subsidiaries: * DPG Media ...

) (216,506), ''TV-Blad'' (158,283), ''Story ''(Belgian magazine) (Sanoma Belgium) (159,833), ''Plus Magazine ''(Belgium) (134,242), ''TV-Familie/Blik'' (129,328), ''Flair'' (Sanoma Belgium) (126,831), ''

Knack Knack or The Knack may refer to: Music and entertainment * The Knack, an American pop-rock band famous for their hit "My Sharona" * The Knack (1960s US band), an American garage rock band active in the 1960s * The Knack (UK band), a British freakb ...

'' (

) (126,646), '' Trends ''(Roularta Media Group), '' 't Pallieterke''. Major French-language weekly magazines in 2008 were '' Trends'' (Roularta Media Group), ''

Le Vif/L’Express ''Le Vif/L'Express'' is a French language weekly news magazine published in City of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. It has been in circulation since 1963. History and profile The magazine was established under the name of ''Le Vif'' in 1983. Its na ...

''(Roularta Media Group), '' Télé Moustique'' (Sanoma Belgium), '' Femmes d'Aujourd'hui'' (DPG Media). Numerous by-weekly and monthly magazines exist. E.g. '' Eos Magazine'', '' P-Magazine'', and '' ZozoLala''. The Brussels Times magazine is published every two months for English speakers.

Media groups

In Belgium there are around 19 major (holding) companies active in numerous media and telecommunication sub-sectors.Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media, Mediaconcentratie in Vlaanderen rapport 2009, Vlaamse overheid, Brussel, 2009 These are: *

Belgacom The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication in Belgium and the international markets. In Belgium, its main products and services are offered under the Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings brands. The Group is also ac ...

Group (Belgian state) * Concentra Media Groep (Tony Baert) *

Corelio Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belg ...

(

Christian Leysen Christian Leysen (born 1954) is a Belgian businessman, and Chairman of the International Advisory board of Antwerp Management School, who developed several Belgian ventures to large international companies. Biography Born in Wilrijk as son of ...

) *

(

Christian Van Thillo Christian Van Thillo (born 25 March 1962 in Antwerp, Belgium) is a Belgian businessman. He was Chief Executive Officer of DPG Media, a leading family-owned Belgian media concern that owns print media and broadcast media in Belgium and the Nether ...

) *

Roularta Media Group Roularta Media Group is a publishing and broadcasting company based in Roeselare, Belgium. Its operations were started in 1954. History and profile Roularta was established by lawyer Willy De Nolf in 1954. The group operates in the France, the ...

(Rik De Nolf) *

Sanoma Sanoma Corporation (, formerly SanomaWSOY) is Finland's largest media group. The company has media business in Finland and a learning business in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Norway and Spain, among others. The company is headquarte ...

Belgium (Sanoma WSOY) *

( De Vijver Media) *

Telenet Telenet was an American commercial packet-switched network which went into service in 1975. It was the first FCC-licensed public data network in the United States. Various commercial and government interests paid monthly fees for dedicated lines ...

(

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

) * VRT (Flemish community) * Rossel et Cie * VOO (TECTEO) (Walloon region) *

Numericable Numericable was a major French Cable television, cable operator and telecommunications services company. Numericable was originally created in 2007 from the merger between former competitors Noos and NC Numericable networks. Numericable Group SA w ...

(Ypso Holding) *

(French community) *

(

Bertelsmann Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...

) * Groupe IPM (Patrice Le Honey) *

(Claude Berda) *

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The group was created in 1992 as Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed by Arnaud Lagardère, it is focuse ...

Another major media company is

Mediahuis Mediahuis is a newspaper & magazine publishing, distribution, printing, TV, radio and online media company founded in 2014 with assets in Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg and Germany. Mediahuis publishes daily newspaper titles in Belg ...

Intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights in Belgium are managed by

SABAM SABAM is one of the Belgian associations of authors, composers and publishers. The bilingual acronym stands for "Société d'Auteurs Belge – Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij". Their headquarters is located at 75–77 rue d'Arlon in Brussels. S ...

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* * * {{Europe topic, Media of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...