| Type | Broadcast radio, television and online |
|---|---|
| Country | Belgium |
| Availability | Flemish Region Brussels Walloon Region |
| Launch date | 1930 (radio) 1953 (television) |
| Former names | NIR (1930-1960), BRT (1960-1991), BRTN (1991-1998) |
| Official website | www.vrt.be |
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (Flemish Radio and Television Network Organization), or VRT, is a publicly funded broadcaster of radio and television in Flanders (northern part of Belgium).
Between 1960 until 1991, VRT was called BRT (Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep). It is the successor of NIR (Belgisch Nationaal Instituut voor Radio-omroep), which was responsible for radio and television broadcasts from 1930 (and since 1953 for TV) until 1960. Politicians thought the name was no longer appropriate. BRT was only broadcasting Dutch language programs whereas RTBF was only broadcasting French language programs. That is why in 1991 the name BRTN (Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen) was introduced. When the statute of BRTN changed in 1998 the name was changed to VRT.
Following the ending of the TV monopoly and the creation of VTM, this reorganisation changed the public broadcaster into a dynamic and powerful service that is currently (2009) the market leader. Part of this success is the use of external production houses such as Woestijnvis that created successful formats such as The Mole (De mol) and Man bijt hond.
Since 1950 VRT, together with its French counterpart RTBF, has been a joint member of the European Broadcasting Union. EBU is the European organisation of public broadcasters that also organises the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Television channels are transmitted on:
Ketnet and Canvas, as well as their HD version, share a single TV channel, VRT2 (Ketnet between 7am & 8pm and Canvas during all other hours). The channel, formerly known as BRTN TV2, began broadcasting in 1970.
Sporza was active as a separate channel during the summer of 2004, but has been removed from the air starting September 2004. Normal sports-programmes on the other channels now also carry the name Sporza due to the huge popularity of the channel. The radio station 927 Live for sports programmes is now called Sporza. The online sports-news also goes by the name Sporza.
The VRT broadcasts radio channels in both analog format (FM and AM) and digital format (using DAB and DVB-T). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.
International broadcasting is done via VRT's Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal (RVi).
They also have a TMC service transmitted on Radio 2.
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