Jump to content

RTBF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
RTBF redirects here. For the law with the same acronym, read right to be forgotten.

Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française
TypeBroadcast radio, television and online
Country
Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels)
HeadquartersReyers Tower [fr], Schaerbeek, Brussels-Capital Region
OwnerFrench Community of Belgium
Launch date
  • 1930; 94 years ago (1930) (radio)
  • 1953; 71 years ago (1953) (television)
Former names
  • INR (1930–60)
  • RTB (1960–77)
Official website
rtbf.be

The Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Community of Belgium, in Wallonia and Brussels. Its counterpart in the Flemish Community is the Dutch-language VRT (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie), and in the German-speaking Community it is BRF (Belgischer Rundfunk).

RTBF operates five television channels – La Une, Tipik, La Trois, Arte Belgique and TipikVision together with a number of radio channels, including La Première, RTBF Mix, VivaCité, Musiq'3, Classic 21, and Tipik.

The organisation's headquarters in Brussels, which is shared with VRT, is sometimes referred to colloquially as Reyers.[1][2][3] This comes from the name of the avenue where RTBF/VRT's main building is located, the Boulevard Auguste Reyers.

History

[edit]
See also: VRT (broadcaster) § History
The communications tower at RTBF's headquarters in Brussels.

Originally named the Belgian National Broadcasting Institute (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 Le Flagey, formerly known as the Maison de la Radio, a purpose-built building in the "paquebot" style of Art 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 to Radio Bruxelles. A number of INR personnel were able to relocate to the BBC's studios in London from where they broadcast as Radio Belgique / Radio België under the Office de Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge (RNB) established by the Belgian government in exile's Ministry of Information.[citation needed]

At the end of the 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 the European Broadcasting Union in 1950. Television broadcasting from Brussels began in 1953, with two hours of programming each day. In 1960 the INR was subsumed into RTB (Radio-Télévision Belge) and moved to new quarters at the Reyers building in 1967. RTB's first broadcast in colour, Le Jardin Extraordinaire (a gardening and nature programme), was transmitted in 1971. Two years later, RTB began broadcasting news in colour.[citation needed]

In 1977, broadcasting became a concern for Belgium's language communities, rather than the national government as a whole. Accordingly, the French-language section of RTB became RTBF (Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté française) and a second television channel was set up with the name RTbis.[6] In 1979 RTbis became Télé 2.[7] Along with French channels TF1, Antenne 2, FR3 and Swiss channel TSR, RTBF jointly established the European French-speaking channel TV5 in 1984. On 21 March 1988, Télé 2 became Télé 21.[7] On 27 September 1989 a joint-venture company of RTBF and Vivendi was set up with the name Canal Plus TVCF, which subsequently became Canal Plus Belgique in May 1995. In 1993, Télé 21 was replaced by Arte/21 and Sports 21.[citation needed]

In mid-January 2010, 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, RTBF was one of the few European public broadcasters to join in condemning the closure of Greece's public broadcaster, ERT. [citation needed]

By 2011, the analogue systems for RTBF.be were planned to be phased out for Wallonia.

Bye Bye Belgium

[edit]
Wikinews has related news:
Main article: Flemish Secession hoax

On 13 December 2006, at 20:21 CET (19:21 UTC), RTBF replaced an edition of its regular current affairs programme Questions à la Une with a fake special news report in which it was claimed that Flanders 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 the Flemish Parliament, while Flemish separatists waved the flag of Flanders behind them. Off to the side, Francophone and Belgian nationalists were waving Belgian flags. The report also featured footage of King Albert and Queen Paola getting on a military jet to Congo, a former Belgian colony.

RTBF justified the hoax on the grounds that it raised the issue of Flemish nationalism, but others felt that it raised the issue of how much the public can trust the press.

Logo history

[edit]
  • RTBF's third logo from late 1982[9][10]–1994
    RTBF's third logo from late 1982[9][10]–1994
  • RTBF's fourth logo from 1994[11]–1997
    RTBF's fourth logo from 1994[11]–1997
  • RTBF's fifth logo from 1997–2005
    RTBF's fifth logo from 1997–2005
  • RTBF's sixth and previous logo from 2005–2010.
    RTBF's sixth and previous logo from 2005–2010.

Television channels

[edit]

Television channels are transmitted:

Current channels

[edit]
  • La Une (Channel One): RTBF's main channel television, formerly known as RTBF1; began in 1953 on VHF channel 10; in PAL color since 1973
  • Tipik: formerly known as La Deux, RTBF La Deux, RTbis and Télé 21; began in 1977
  • La Trois (Channel Three): the quality TV channel; began in 2007; there are no commercial adverts on this channel
  • Arte Belgique: in collaboration with the Franco-German TV network Arte

Video on demand

[edit]

The Video on demand (VOD) offer of the RTBF is available on several platforms:

Radio channels

[edit]

The RTBF broadcasts radio channels in either analogue format (FM and digital format (using DAB and DVB-T). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.

Analogue and digital

[edit]
Name Type VRT equivalent
La Première news, information, talk and culture Radio 1
VivaCité general pop music, regional news and sport Radio 2 and Sporza
Classic 21 classic rock and pop Studio Brussel
Tipik young and alternative pop music Studio Brussel and MNM
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

Digital-only channels

[edit]
  • Classic 21 60s: Focus on the "Golden Sixties"
  • Classic 21 70s: Focus on music from the 1970s
  • Classic 21 80s: Focus on music from the 1980s
  • Classic 21 90s: Focus on music from the 1990s
  • Classic 21 Blues: Focus on Blues
  • Classic 21 Metal: Focus on Metal
  • Classic 21 Route66: Focus on Route 66 music
  • Classic 21 Soul Power: Focus on Soul
  • OUFtivi: Web radio for children from 8 to 13 years old.
  • Tipik Like: Focus on new talents
  • Tipik Lazy: Focus on relaxed music
  • Tarmac: Focus on urban music

They also have a TMC service transmitted on Classic 21.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "La RTBF organise un examen de recrutement de journalistes". RTBF. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  2. ^ Lovens, Pierre-François. "La RTBF passe à l'offensive politique contre le projet bruxellois X 2". La Libre.be. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  3. ^ Lovens, Pierre-François. ""BXL" : RTL met la RTBF en garde". La Libre.be. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Le Flagey, the former Maison de la Radio". Brussels Life. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  5. ^ "The Flagey Building". Flagey. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  6. ^ Schaerbeek 02/737 21 11, RTBF Boulevard Auguste Reyers 52 1044. "1977 : La RTB devient RTBF". RTBF Entreprises. Retrieved 13 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ a b Schaerbeek 02/737 21 11, RTBF Boulevard Auguste Reyers 52 1044. "1988 : Naissance de Télé 21". RTBF Entreprises. Retrieved 13 April 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ La RTBF devient RTBF.BE dès ce mercredi, La Libre Belgique, 12 January 2010
  9. ^ 1983 Liege Bastogne Liege on YouTube
  10. ^ "Stephane Bianda RTBF Liege Masi".
  11. ^ Simon, Christine (28 August 1997). "La farceuse affaire du logo est classée". Le Soir.
  12. ^ Bouquet Imagin
  13. ^ Included channels, PostTV
[edit]

Media related to RTBF at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RTBF&oldid=1253998351"