The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly shortened to ERT (), is the state-owned public radio and television broadcaster of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

History

Overview

ERT began broadcasting in 1938 as the Radio Broadcasting Service or YRE (). Following a government decision, the original company was abolished on 11 June 2013, with its 2,656 employees protesting against the closure and continuing broadcasting via a satellite transmission using

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

equipment. The EBU also began providing Internet streaming of the ERT broadcast. On 12 June 2013, the Greek government proposed a successor organization, New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (), shortened to NERIT (), which launched in August 2013 as "

Public Television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

" (). As protests against the decision of the government (Coalition of New Democracy, PASOK, DIMAR) continued, on 15 June Prime Minister Samaras proposed returning ERT to service immediately, by having an emergency committee rehire selected employees. This offer was rejected by the ERT employees and Samaras' coalition partners. On 17 June 2013, following an appeal by ERT's employees to the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

(Greece's highest administrative court), the Council suspended the government's decision to interrupt broadcasting and shut down ERT's frequencies and ordered the Finance Minister and the minister responsible for media, signing the decision, to take "all necessary organisational measures for the continuation of transmission of broadcasting services and operation of internet websites by a public broadcaster for the period until the establishment and operation of a new operator that will serve the public's interest". In his ruling, the Council's President found that the government's decision violated Law 1730/1987 which requires "the contribution by a public broadcaster to informing, educating and entertaining the Greek people and the diaspora". The Council's appellate division upheld the original Temporary Injunction three days later. Until 24 October 2013, ERT's employees were able to offer the television programmes of NET (also simulcast in HD as ERT-HD) and ET3, and the radio programmes of ERA Athens-Thessaloniki and Third Programme through conventional means (analogue and digital TV, FM, medium and shortwave radio broadcasts) as well as over the Internet. At approximately 18:11

EEST Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

, ERT lost their satellite capacity on the

Astra 23.5°E Astra 23.5°E is a group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 23.5° east position in the Clarke Belt owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. 23.5° east is one of the major TV satellite positions serving Europe ( ...

satellite after successful lobbying by the Greek government to the capacity provider

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES, a ...

. That halted most conventional TV and radio broadcasts that received the feed from the satellite but did not affect the regional ERA affiliates that produced their programming locally, nor a large part of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

which is served by a

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 Fe ...

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

located within the ERT HQ in Ayia Paraskevi. Web streaming was not affected at all. , more than nine months after the decision to close down ERT, the striking workers still ran 17 radio stations (15 regional, two national) and a single TV channel (ET3), from the regional radio studios, and the ET3 Television Building in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. FM and AM transmissions continued throughout Greece with some interruptions and

shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (app ...

transmissions continued with weaker transmission power. All radio stations were also available as web streams. The TV channel was sporadically transmitted by conventional means (analogue transmitters in Thessaloniki) and was always available as a web stream. In April 2015, the Hellenic Parliament approved the draft of re-opening ERT S.A. and also voted and approved the draft of re-opening this broadcaster. As of 11 June 2015, ERT again started broadcasting, replacing NERIT.

1938–2013

ERT began broadcasting in 1938 as the Radio Broadcasting Service or YRE (), initially limited to radio services from

, with the

Athens Radio Station The Athens Radio Station () was a radio station that began to emit in 1938 in Athens under the auspices of the Metaxas Regime's Radio Broadcast Service (, ΥΡΕ). It was based in the premises of the Zappeion in central Athens. It was the forerun ...

based in the

Zappeion The Zappeion (, ) is a large, palatial building next to the National Gardens of Athens in the heart of Athens, Greece. It is generally used for meetings and ceremonies, both official and private and is one of the city's most renowned modern land ...

. During the

Axis occupation of Greece The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of Greece, invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, in their Greco-Italian War, ongoing war that w ...

, the service was renamed as the Limited Hellenic Radio Company or AERE (). After Liberation, in 1945 the service was reorganized as the

National Radio Foundation The National Radio Foundation () or EIR (), was the main public state broadcaster of Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borde ...

or EIR (), still based at Zappeion. The radio services were expanded to three national radio services as well as international radio services for emigrant Greeks. EIR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organizations of the

in 1950. Test television broadcasts began in 1965 and full TV service began in 1966. In 1970, the company was renamed National Radio and Television Foundation or EIRT (). In 1966, the

Hellenic Armed Forces The Hellenic Armed Forces () lead the military forces of Greece. The Hellenic Armed Forces consists of the Hellenic Army, the Hellenic Navy, Hellenic Air Force and Hellenic Coast Guard. The civilian authority overseeing the Hellenic Armed ...

began their own TV station, the Armed Forces Television or TED (), renamed in 1970 as the

Armed Forces Information Service The Armed Forces Information Service (, ''Ypiresia Enimeroseos Enoplon Dynameon'', ''YENED'') was the television and radio station of the Greek Armed Forces, operating from 1966 until its conversion to a civilian broadcaster in 1982. History TED b ...

or YENED (). Television was prominently used as a propaganda medium by the

Greek junta The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a Right-wing politics, right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing 1967 Greek coup d'état, overthrew the caretaker gove ...

. YENED kept its name and military orientation until the early 1980s, when it was renamed ERT2 by the then

PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...

government. On 1 September 1987, a third station was added – ET3, based in

, with mostly regional programming focused on

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

and the rest of

Northern Greece Northern Greece () is used to refer to the northern parts of Greece, and can have various definitions. Administrative term The term "Northern Greece" is widely used to refer mainly to the two northern regions of Macedonia and (Western) Thra ...

. During the first 20 years of TV services in

, ERT broadcasting was limited, starting at around 5pm to between midnight and 2am. Since 1997 the three ERT TV channels are known as ET1, NET and ET3, and broadcast round the clock. ET1 is an entertainment channel whereas NET is focused on news services. ET3 is still focused on Northern Greece issues, although it broadcasts nationwide. ERT was a major national sponsor and the official broadcaster of the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in Athens. It has been broadcasting the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in Greece since the Mexico City Games of 1968. It also broadcasts

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

games while it is shown on privately owned channels mainly in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Today it broadcasts documentaries, some from the private sector, and a few

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

shows. With the introduction of independent privately owned channels in Greece in the late 1980s, programme quality changed to a more commercial variety, in order to survive the fierce competition for ratings. This was a major shift in the network's principles that was dominated by wider variety, alleged "higher quality" programmes including documentaries and World Cinema. On 19 August 2011 the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation announced a planned restructuring of the company; ERT's main channels became

NET NET may refer to: Broadcast media United States * National Educational Television, the predecessor of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States * National Empowerment Television, a politically conservative cable TV network ...

and ET3, while ET1 was incorporated into the program of NET and ET3. Additionally the digital channels Cine+ and Sport+ ceased broadcasting, and their programming were again incorporated into that of the company's two major domestic channels.

ERT World ERT World (formerly ERT SAT) is a Greek free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (). It is the corporation's international television service, and its programming include ...

also saw changes in its programming to reflect the needs of the

Greek diaspora The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia (), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus. Such places historically (dating to the ancient period) include, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in North Macedonia, North Maced ...

as identified by a survey conducted by ERT. The

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

also said that the company would become ''public'' but no longer ''state-owned''.

Closure

At 17:45

(UTC+3) on 11 June 2013, the Greek spokesperson, Simos Kedikoglou, announced ERT would close by the end of the day. ERT shutdown caused the loss of jobs for 2,500 employees. ERT was dissolved by a Common Ministerial Decision that was enacted by virtue of Article 14B of Law 3429/2005 (regarding the dissolution, merger and restructuring of public companies) as amended by an urgent government Legislative Ordinace (FEK 139/11.06.2013, Issue A'). Despite running a budget surplus on income from a license fee outside the state budget, in a televised statement, Simos Kedikoglou, the minister responsible for media and the government's spokesperson, said that the ERT was a "haven of waste" that cost more and had fewer viewers than private stations. Later in the evening, some of ERT workers managed to continue the broadcasting via

Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to the IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest office ...

. Police forced their way into at least one of the transmitting stations, and all ERT transmitters were closed down around Greece, as was eventually the worldwide ERT World feed. Using satellite offices and other spaces that had not been closed down, ERT journalists continued to broadcast to the Internet. The nearest ERT Transmitters to Athens closed at approximately 23:17 local time. 20 seconds later, channel 902TV (the communist party channel) retransmits the ERT signal, although a few minutes later, the Greek government called Digea, the digital television service, to close the signal 02'sdue to rebroadcasting the signal without permission, and so 902 was closed for a period of time. This action was deemed unacceptable by most Greek citizens due to the Greek Government shutting down ERT without consulting the National Council of Radio and Television, the official body of Radio and Television in Greece. On 12 June at noon local time, the AS and IP range of ERT, the official domain names "ert.gr", "ert3.gr", and "voiceofgreece.gr" were cancelled in the Greek Internet registry, meaning that live broadcasts on the Internet (ERT LIVE) have stopped, as well as the publication of all news articles. Emails sent to the broadcasters are no longer delivered. Other Internet assets registered by ERT are at risk of being closed (because their owner and contact address are no longer valid), notably the official

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account. ERT LIVE is relayed by other sites, such as the University of Greece. The European Broadcasting Union was quick to criticise the closure, issuing a statement the same evening where they expressed "profound dismay on behalf of Europe's entire public service media" and urged the prime minister to reverse the decision. The EBU made the ERT stream available on satellite to its members, declaring as well that "to be in the EBU, you must be a broadcaster, and so we will continue keeping ERT on the EBU council" as said by the director, Ingrid Delterne. Alexis Tsipras, the leftwing opposition leader, who would later become Prime Minister, expressed dismay in regards of ERT's shutdown and described it as "illegal".

NERIT

On 12 June 2013 a Greek government spokesperson, Simos Kedikoglou, announced the formation of a new public service broadcaster,

New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television () or NERIT () was the state-owned public broadcaster for Greece from 4 May 2014 to 11 June 2015. Antonis Samaras' coalition government established NERIT to replace the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporatio ...

. The company's services were expected to launch on 29 August 2013. The service provider employed between 1,000 and 1,200 and was funded by advertising and tax contributions. Prior to its launch on television, a temporary state television broadcaster known as

Dimosia Tileorasi Public Television (DT) (originally as Greek Public Television (EDT)) was a temporary, state television broadcaster in Greece (up to the creation of the new public channels of New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television, NERIT). From 27 January 201 ...

(English: Public Television) launched on 10 July 2013 on the frequencies of ERT, launching as Elliniki Dimosia Tileorasi (English: Greek Public Television). It was closed on 4 May 2014, in order for it to be replaced by NERIT.

Relaunch of ERT

In 2015, the government, under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, restored ERT as Greece's public broadcaster and NERIT ceased broadcasting on 11 June 2015, at 6:00 EEST.

Services

Radio

ERT broadcast radio programmes under the name of

Hellenic Radio The Hellenic Radio (; or ERA) is the main public radio broadcaster in Greece. Founded in 1987 as a subsidiary of public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), it broadcasts four domestic radio channels and the international shortw ...

, since 1988. Under this name, ERT broadcasts four national radio services: *

First Programme First Programme (, ''Proto Programma'') is the first Greek public radio station, first broadcast by the National Radio Foundation and later Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation. 1938 Founded in 1938 as ''Athens Radio Station'' from a studio in Za ...

(Πρώτο Πρόγραμμα), is primarily a news-oriented station, with some current affairs and talk programming. *

Second Programme Second Programme (, ''Deftero Programma'') is the second public radio station of Greece's state broadcaster, ERT. The station consists of Greek music and culture broadcasts. History The Second Programme originated on May 11, 1952 as a result of ...

(Δεύτερο Πρόγραμμα) is primarily a Greek music station. *

Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

(Τρίτο Πρόγραμμα) is more of a classical music/arts & culture station (with some drama thrown in). *

ERA Sport The ERA Sport (, ''ERA Sport'') is the sports radio station of ERT. The station broadcasts 24-hour sports programs. The programme also included political news. ERA Sport is one of the most popular sports radio station in the country throughou ...

a sports-oriented station, with regular news every hour and sports news every half-hour. During the late night hours most ERA programmes aired a common night program. *

Kosmos 93.6 Kosmos Radio () or Kosmos 93.6 & 107.0, is a public radio channel of Greece's public broadcaster, ERT, the most popular among its radio stations. The program consists of world music, jazz, folk, reggae, latin idioms, hip-hop, afro and alternativ ...

is primarily a world music (ethnic, soul, jazz, etc.) station. *

Voice of Greece The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

(ERA 5) is an international audience

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30& ...

station. Under the name of the ERA International Network, Voice of Greece and some ERA domestic programmes were rebroadcast on AM and FM stations throughout the globe. *

102 FM 102 FM is a radio station broadcasting on 102 MHz FM in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is owned by ERT3, ERT's regional public broadcaster for northern Greek audiences. It broadcasts news programs and talk shows. History 102 FM was one of the thre ...

is the news station for the city of

. * 95.8 FM is the music and cultural station for

. * is the new rock music station. Former, discontinued channels: *

Trito Programma Vrahea Trito Programma Vrahea, which translates to 'Third Programme (of the Macedonian Radio Station) - Shortwave' was a radio station operated by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). Founded in 1993, the station served as ERT 3's international s ...

ERT3 ERT3 (, "ERT Tria") is a Greek free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (). It is an entertainment channel, and although it broadcasts nationwide, most of its content i ...

's global radio station. *, radio station for immigrants in Greece. For regional audiences, ERT has 19 regional stations with relays. The regional station in Macedonia was the only one with two separate programme streams and a shortwave service. The interval signal for all ERA programmes are several opening bars of the folk song "Tsopanakos Imouna" (Once I Was A Shepherd Boy).

Television

Current channels

Former discontinued channels

* Cine+ – movies (part of

ERT Digital ERT Digital () was a pilot project by ERT, the public broadcaster of Greece. It was the first legal attempt at digital television broadcasting in Greece, featuring four new channels: Cine+, Prisma+ Sport+ and Info+. It was officially launched in ...

). *

Sport+ Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...

– sports (part of

). *

Prisma+ Prisma or PRISMA may refer to: Media * ''Prisma'', 2019 album by Beret * ''Prisma'', 2013 album by Motel * ''Prisma'' (magazine), 1930s Catalan magazine * Prisma (typeface), a typeface designed by Rudolf Koch * Prisma (app), a photo editing soft ...

– program for hearing impaired (part of

). *

Studio+ A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, espe ...

– music (part of

in association with

MAD TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

). * Info+ – news and current affairs (part of

). *Cinesport+ – merger of Cine+ and Sport+.

Internet

www.ert.gr
is the ERT's official website. *ERT Play is the internet channel of ERT which started broadcasting on 28 January 2017. It is not a 24-hour channel, and is used to broadcast competitions when the 4 main channels can't broadcast any event (especially

). The first programme that was broadcast is the presentation of Demy for

Eurovision 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and ...

.
www.ertflix.gr
is ERT's movie and television series streaming platform. It also live streams ERT's channels and has all of ERT's TV transmissions.
mousikasynola.ert.gr
is the website of its Music Ensembles.
www.ertnews.gr
is the ERT's news website.
www.ertsports.gr
is the ERT's sports website.
vog.ert.gr
is the Voice of Greece's website.

Music Ensembles

ERT is also home to three music ensembles: *National Symphony Orchestra *Contemporary Music Orchestra *Hellenic Radio Choir The music ensembles' broadcast is called Protos Orofos (First Floor) and aires on the

every Saturday at 14:30.

Programming

Funding

ERT is mainly funded by a license fee, which is also paid with the electricity bill (along with other applicable taxes) which represents the vast majority of resources in the public group. The fee was 4.74 euros per month in 2013, equal to 56.88 euros annually, but was reduced to 3 euros per month upon the launch of ERT. It is not connected with actual ownership of a TV set. There are modest grants from the government for contributing to educational public missions. However, since 2008, some commercial resources from advertisers (even though the channels have lost significant parts of audiences) and the economic crisis in Greece has severely impacted the profitability of advertising and of commercial cooperation for the joint production of programs, as well as the collection of license fees on electricity bills.

Corporate identity

The opening bars of ''Tsopanakos Imouna'' () is ERT's corporate

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

, as well as their

interval signal An interval signal, or tuning signal, is a characteristic sound or musical phrase used in international broadcasting, numbers stations, and by some domestic broadcasters, played before commencement or during breaks in transmission, but most comm ...

on radio. ERT is the holder of the bigges
audiovisual archive
in Greece, which includes also significant moments of

modern Greek history The history of modern Greece covers the history of Greece from the recognition by the Great Powers — the United Kingdom, France and Russia — of its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828 to the present day. Background The Byzantine E ...

Logo history

File:ΕΡΤ1-1986.png, 3 December 1975 – 11 August 1987 File:ΕΡΤ logo.svg, 2002 – 7 June 2008 File:EPT logo.svg, 7 June 2008 – 28 September 2020 File:ERT logo 2020.svg, 28 September 2020 – present

History

Overview

1938–2013

Closure

NERIT

Relaunch of ERT

Services

Radio

Television

Current channels

Former discontinued channels

Internet

Music Ensembles

Programming

Funding

Corporate identity

Logo history

See also

Related legislation

External links