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| Type | Broadcast radio, television and online |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Headquarters | Reyers Tower [fr],Schaerbeek,Brussels-Capital Region |
| Owner | French Community of Belgium |
Launch date |
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Former names |
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Official website | Official website |
TheRadio-télévision belge de la Communauté française ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened toRTBF (branded asrtbf.be), is apublic service broadcaster for theFrench-speaking minority of Belgium. Its counterpart in theFlemish Community (the majority) is the Dutch-languageVRT (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie), and in theGerman-speaking minority it isBRF (Belgischer Rundfunk).
The RTBF operates five television channels (La Une,Tipik,La Trois,Arte Belgique andTipikVision) together with a number of radio channels, includingLa Première,RTBF Mix,VivaCité,Musiq'3,Classic 21, andTipik.
The organisation's headquarters inBrussels, which is shared withVRT, is sometimes referred to colloquially asReyers.[1][2][3] This comes from the name of the avenue where the RTBF/VRT's main building is located, theBoulevard Auguste Reyers/Auguste Reyerslaan.
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TheNational Institute of Radio Broadcasting (French:INR, Institut national belge de radiodiffusion;Dutch:NIR, Belgisch Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep), the state-owned broadcasting organisation was established by law on 18 June 1930,[citation needed] and from 1938 was housed in theFlagey Building, also known as theRadio House, a purpose-built building in the"paquebot" style ofArt Deco architecture.[4][5]
On 14 June 1940, the INR was forced to cease broadcasting as a result of the German invasion. The German occupying forces, who now oversaw its management, changed the INR's name toRadio Bruxelles. A number of INR personnel were able to relocate to theBBC's studios in London from where they broadcast asRadio Belgique /Radio België under theOffice de Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge (RNB) established by theBelgian government in exile's Ministry of Information.[citation needed]
At the end ofthe war the INR and the RNB coexisted until 14 September 1945, when a Royal Decree merged the two and restored the INR's original mission. The INR was one of 23 broadcasting organisations that founded theEuropean Broadcasting Union in 1950. Television broadcasting from Brussels began in 1953, with two hours of programming each day. Split along linguistic lines in 1960, the INR's French-language programming became RTB (Radio-Télévision Belge, Emissions françaises) and moved to new quarters at the Reyers building in 1967. The RTB's first broadcast in colour,Le Jardin Extraordinaire (a gardening and nature programme), was transmitted in 1971. Two years later, the RTB began broadcastingnews in colour.[citation needed]
In 1977, broadcasting became a concern for Belgium'slanguage communities, rather than the national government as a whole. Accordingly, the French-language section of the RTB became the RTBF (Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté française) and a second television channel was set up with the nameRTbis.[6] In 1979RTbis becameTélé 2.[7] Along with French channelsTF1,Antenne 2,FR3 and Swiss channelTSR, the RTBF jointly established the European French-speaking channelTV5 in 1984. On 21 March 1988,Télé 2 becameTélé 21.[7] On 27 September 1989 a joint-venture company of the RTBF andVivendi was set up with the nameCanal Plus TVCF, which subsequently becameCanal Plus Belgique in May 1995. In 1993,Télé 21 was replaced byArte/21 andSports 21.[citation needed]
In mid-January 2010, the RTBF adopted the new branding of RTBF.be in its main logo.[8] The change was made because of the growing importance of new media; the ".be" suffix stressed those new developments.
On 11 June 2013, the RTBF was one of the few European public broadcasters to join in condemning the closure ofGreece's public broadcaster,ERT.[citation needed]
By 2011, the analogue systems for RTBF.be were planned to be phased out forWallonia.
On 13 December 2006, at 20:21CET (19:21UTC), the RTBF replaced an edition of its regular current affairs programmeQuestions à la Une with afake special news report in which it was claimed thatFlanders had proclaimed independence, effectively dissolving the Belgian state. The programme had been preceded by a caption reading "This may not be fiction", which was repeated intermittently as a subtitle to the images on the screen. After the first half-hour of the 90-minute broadcast, however – by which point RTBF.be's response line had been flooded with calls – this was replaced with a caption reading "This is fiction".
The video featured images of news reporters standing in front of theFlemish Parliament, while Flemish separatists waved theflag of Flanders behind them. Off to the side, Francophone and Belgian nationalists were waving Belgian flags. The report also featured footage ofKing Albert andQueen Paola getting on a military jet toCongo, a former Belgian colony.
The RTBF justified the hoax on the grounds that it raised the issue ofFlemish nationalism, but others felt that it raised the issue of how much the public can trust the press.
In September 2024,French Community of Belgium Minister of MediaJacqueline Galant criticized RTBF for airing a segment titled "How to be less racist?", which in her opinion was biased and lacked pluralism. Galant was in turn criticized by theEuropean Federation of Journalists for alleged editorial interference.[9][10]
RTBF notably caused controversy in January 2025 by delaying the broadcast ofDonald Trump'ssecond inaugural speech by two minutes, in order to prevent the live broadcast of statements inciting hatred. The decision was condemned ascensorship byReformist Movement party leaderGeorges-Louis Bouchez and prompted an investigation from Galant.[11][12][13]
![RTBF's third logo from late 1982[14][15]–1994](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRTBF_1984.svg)
![RTBF's fourth logo from 1994[16]–1997](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRTBF_1991.svg)
Television channels are transmitted:
TheVideo on demand (VOD) offer of the RTBF is available on several platforms:
The RTBF broadcasts radio channels in either analogue format (FM and digital format (usingDAB andDVB-T). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.
| Name | Type | VRT equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| La Première | news, information, talk and culture | Radio 1 |
| VivaCité | general pop music,regional news and sport | Radio 2 andSporza |
| Classic 21 | classic rock and pop | Studio Brussel |
| Tipik | young and alternative pop music | Studio Brussel andMNM |
| Musiq'3 | classical and jazz music plus opera | Klara |
| RTBF Mix | DAB station airing in Flanders, with a selection of programs from La Première, VivaCité and Classic 21 | None |
They also have aTMC service transmitted onClassic 21.
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Media related toRTBF at Wikimedia Commons
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