Radio Télévision nationale congolaise (RTNC) is the national broadcaster of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. It is government controlled in a country with a poor record on

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

. Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise currently broadcasts in

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...

, French, and English.

History

Radio Congo Belge (RCB) was created in 1940 by the general government of the Belgian Congo. After the country gained independence, Radio du Congo Belge (RCB) became Radiodiffusion Nationale Congolaise (RNC). RTNC started television broadcasts in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the Capital city, capital and Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-grow ...

on November 24, 1966, three hours a day (7pm to 10pm), on VHF channel 5. By the mid-1970s, following the rename of the country to Zaire, the television station was known as Télé-Zaire, and had its broadcasting hours extended (6pm to 11pm weekdays and 10am or 1pm to 11pm weekends). A second station in

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital ...

started in 1967, on channel 9. Programming was mainly dedicated to news and current affairs topics, with smaller proportions of educational and entertainment programming. In preparation for the start of color broadcasts in 1974, Télé-Zaïre received US$1.6 million investments from

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

, which not only saw the implementation of color television, but also increased the facilities in Kinshasa. Between 1981 and 1997, it was known as the (OZRT) at the time of Zaire, it was also the only Zairian agency to broadcast on the airwaves since the 1972 law. The station was made available on satellite in the 90s using the

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

system to deliver its signals; most relay relay stations in the country's inland were dependent on available power supplies.2005 World Radio and Television Handbook, page 640 Since political liberalization in the 1990s, other private companies have broadcast audiovisual media. It took its current name on May 17, 1997, following the coming to power of the AFDL, the party of President

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila (; 27 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) usually known as Laurent Kabila or Kabila the Father (American English, US: ), was a Congolese rebel and politician who served as the third president of the Democratic Republic of t ...

Operations

Radio

*RTNC Chaîne nationale *RTNC Kinshasa *RTNC Bandundu *RTNC Bukavu *RTNC Goma *RTNC Kat (Lubumbashi) *RTNC Kindu *RTNC Kisangani *RTNC MbujiMayi *RTNC Mbandaka

Television

RTNC covers 70% of the Congolese territory (as of 2001)"DRC: Launch of Canal Tropical Television", ''Africa Film & TV Magazine'', nº. 24, May-July 2001 and operates two television channels: *RTNC1: general channel with national coverage; *RTNC2: public provincial commercial and entertainment channel in Kinshasa. In the early 2000s, RTNC seized Canal Kin Télévision and TKM, renaming them RTNC3 and RTNC4 in the process.

References

External links

*
Official site
Publicly funded broadcasters French-language television networks Radio stations established in 1971 Television channels and stations established in 1966 Television stations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo State media Radio in the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-stub