The VRT (), is the national
public-service broadcaster for the
Flemish Community
The Flemish Community ( nl, Vlaamse Gemeenschap ; french: Communauté flamande ; german: Flämische Gemeinschaft ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilitie ...
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 ...
.
History
VRT is the successor to a succession of organisations. The Belgian National Institute of Radio Broadcasting was known as the Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep (NIR) in
Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
and the L'
Institut National de Radiodiffusion
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 Comm ...
(INR) in French, was founded in 1930 and existed until 1960. This became the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT) in 1960 and the Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN) from 1991 to 1998.
The NIR/INR and BRT (Radio-Télévision Belge, or RTB, in French) had each been single state-owned entities with separate
Dutch- and
French-language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in No ...
production departments. They were housed in
Le Flagey, formerly known as the Maison de la Radio, from when the new building was completed in 1938 until 1974, when the building became too small. However, in 1977, as part of the ongoing
state reform in Belgium broadcasting became reserved to the language communities rather than the national government in 1977. Accordingly, BRT/RTB went their separate ways in 1977. While the former French half changed its name to
RTBF in 1977, the Dutch side retained the BRT name until becoming BRTN in 1991. However, the two broadcasters share production facilities on Auguste Reyerslaan (French: Boulevard Auguste Reyers) in
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 final renaming to VRT, on 1 January 1998, followed a change in the organization's legal status: from being part of a semi-governmental entity (a ''parastatale'' in Belgian terminology) it had, on 16 April 1997, became a publicly owned corporation (''NV van publiek recht'') in its own right.
As successors to the NIR/INR, VRT and its counterpart in the
French Community of Belgium, RTBF, share the Belgian membership in the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...
(EBU) – an association of public broadcasters in the countries of Europe and the Mediterranean rim that, amongst other activities, organises the annual
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
. Much like RTBF, it is also one of the 23 founding members.
With the ending of its television monopoly – marked by the creation of
VTM, a commercial television company that initially captured more than half of VRT's audience – the public broadcaster has been compelled to fight back, and part of its successful response has been the use of external production houses such as
Woestijnvis, the creator of such formats as
The Mole (''De mol'') and ''Man Bites Dog'' (''
Man bijt hond'').
Television channels
Television channels are transmitted on:
* Cable: analog and digital on all Belgian and Dutch cable providers;
*
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...
to all major Belgian DSL providers (
Proximus,
Orange,
Scarlet);
*
Satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
with paid
TV Vlaanderen subscription (encrypted
DVB-S2
Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite - Second Generation (DVB-S2) is a digital television broadcast standard that has been designed as a successor for the popular DVB-S system. It was developed in 2003 by the Digital Video Broadcasting Projec ...
using
SES Astra network).
*
Terrestrial with paid
TV Vlaanderen subscription (encrypted
DVB-T2 using
Norkring network) in Flanders and paid
Digitenne subscription (encrypted DVB-T2) in the Netherlands. Free to air
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 Feb ...
broadcast by VRT was discontinued on 1 December 2018.
Current channels
*
Eén (
Dutch for: ''
one
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
''), the main channel, formerly known as VRT TV1. Started in 1953 on VHF channel 10. In
PAL colour since 1971. In 1977 the transmission standard changed from Belgian 625 to European
CCIR) standard.
*
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 handbag ...
, the quality TV channel. Started in 1997.
*
Ketnet, the children's channel. Formerly took up Canvas's channel from 6am to 8pm.
*
Sporza, the sports channel. Sport programs (like cycling, football, tennis...) are aired under the Sporza name but on the channels of
Eén,
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 handbag ...
or Ketnet. During big sport events (like the Olympics) it is not uncommon for two or more channels to simultaneously air Sporza.
Former channels
* BRTN TV2 was launched on 26 April 1977 as BRT TV2. BRT(N) TV2 broadcast ''Terzake'' and ''Het Journaal 8 uur'' until Sunday, 30 November 1997, when TV2 ceased transmission. On Monday 1 December 1997, BRTN TV2 was split into two channels: BRTN Ketnet and BRTN Canvas. The two channels were part of BRTN until 1998 – Canvas and Ketnet are still broadcasting as part of VRT2.
*
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 ...
(
Dutch for: ''on twelve'') was a channel used as backup in the event of primetime shortage. Mostly used for excess sport- and culture programs. It was discontinued in 2014.
*
BVN
BVN (''Het beste van NPO'', "The best of NPO"), is a Dutch free-to-air television channel providing Dutch public-service television to viewers around the world.
It is a service of the public broadcasting company of the Netherlands, Nederlands ...
was a joint
Dutch-Flemish TV station for international audiences; some VRT programmes aired as part of BVN's schedule. VRT left the BVN venture in July 2021; the channel is currently owned exclusively by the Dutch public broadcaster
NPO and airs an exclusively Dutch schedule.
Radio channels
The VRT broadcasts radio channels in both analog format (
FM) and digital format (using
DAB+
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services.
Types
In digital broadcasting ...
). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet at radioplus.be.
International broadcasting
International broadcasting, in a limited extent, began during World War I, when German and British stations broadcast press communiqués using Morse code. With the severing of Germany's undersea cables, the wireless telegraph station in Nauen was ...
was done via VRT's
Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal (RVi).
Regular channels
*
Radio 1 – info channel
*
Radio 2 – Flemish channel
*
Klara – classical channel
*
StuBru – young and alternative channel
*
MNM – hit channel
Digital and streaming-only channels
*
Klara continuo – uninterrupted classical music
*
MNM Hits – uninterrupted popular music
*
Nieuws+ – latest news programme continuously repeated
Streaming-only channels
* Radio 1 Classics – uninterrupted classics songs
* Radio 1 De Lage Landen Lijst
* Radio 2 Bene Bene – uninterrupted music from Flemish artists
* Radio 2 Unwind
* Ketnet Hits – uninterrupted kids music
* MNM Hits – the music you love
* MNM R&Beats – uninterrupted urban music
* MNM 90's & 00's – uninterrupted popular music from the nineties and nillies
* StuBru De Tijdloze – uninterrupted alternative classics
* StuBru Hooray – uninterrupted hiphop music
* StuBru Bruut – uninterrupted heavy music
* StuBru UNTZ
* StuBru #ikluisterbelgisch
TMC
They also have a
Traffic message channel (TMC) service transmitted on Radio 2.
Logo history
File:NIR INR.gif, NIR logo (1953–1960)
File:BRTN logo 1960.png, VRT's third and older logo used from 1967 to 1979.
File:BRT old logo.png, BRT logo (1979–1990)
File:BRTN logo.jpg, BRTN logo (1991–1998)
File:VRT logo.jpg, VRT logo (1998–2002)
File:VRT logo (2002-2017).svg, VRT's sixth logo used from 7 January 2002 to 21 June 2017.
File:VRT logo.svg, VRT's seventh and previous logo from 22 June 2017 to July 2021.
File:VRT 2017 bright green and black VRT text.svg, VRT's eighth logo from July 2021 to 29th August 2022.
File:VRT 2022.svg, VRT's ninth and current logo as of 29th August 2022.
See also
*
List of radio stations in Belgium
*
List of television stations in Belgium
*
Bert De Graeve
Bert, baron De Graeve (born 1955, Avelgem) is a Belgian businessman and since 20 May 2006 chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of Bekaert, where he succeeded baron Julien De Wilde. In 2014 he became chairman of the board.
Education
Bert D ...
, former CEO
*
Tony Mary
Tony Mary (born 1950) is a Belgian businessman.
Education
He received a master's degree in economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1973.
Career
He started his career at IBM, where he became Country General Manager for IBM Belgium and Lu ...
, former CEO
References
External links
*
VRT NWSnews site of VRT
16 April 2008 'Belgian pubcaster to launch HD Channel'via Broadband TV News
{{Authority control
Television networks in Belgium
Dutch-language television networks
Publicly funded broadcasters
European Broadcasting Union members
Radio stations established in 1930
Television channels and stations established in 1953
1930 establishments in Belgium
State media
Flemish mass media