The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public service broadcaster for the French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart in the

Flemish Community The Flemish Community (, ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilities only within the precise geographical boundaries of the Dutch-language area and of the ...

is the Dutch-language VRT (), and in the German-speaking Community it is BRF (). The RTBF operates five television channels (, , , and ) together with a number of radio channels, including , , , , , and . The organisation's headquarters in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, which is shared with VRT, is sometimes referred to colloquially as ''Reyers''. This comes from the name of the avenue where the RTBF/VRT's main building is located, the /.

History

The

National Institute of Radio Broadcasting The National Institute of Radio Broadcasting (, INR; , NIR) was the national public service broadcasting company in Belgium between 1930 and 1960. History Inspired by the precedent of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the INR-NIR provid ...

(; ), the state-owned broadcasting organisation was established by law on 18 June 1930, and from 1938 was housed in the

Flagey Building The Flagey Building (; ), also known as the Radio House (; ), is a building located in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium, housing the Flagey cultural centre. It is located on the south-western corner of the Place Eugène Flagey/Eug ...

, also known as the ''Radio House'', a purpose-built building in the "paquebot" style of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

architecture. 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 '. A number of INR personnel were able to relocate to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's studios in London from where they broadcast as '' / '' under the ' (RNB) established by the

Belgian government in exile The Belgian Government in London (; ), also known as the Pierlot IV Government, was the government in exile of Belgium between October 1940 and September 1944 during World War II. The government was wikt:tripartite, tripartite, involving minis ...

's Ministry of Information. 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 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 ...

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 (') and moved to new quarters at the Reyers building in 1967. The RTB's first broadcast in colour, ' (a gardening and nature programme), was transmitted in 1971. Two years later, the RTB began broadcasting

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

in colour. 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 the RTB became the RTBF (') and a second television channel was set up with the name . In 1979 became . Along with French channels , , and Swiss channel TSR, the RTBF jointly established the European French-speaking channel in 1984. On 21 March 1988, became . On 27 September 1989 a joint-venture company of the RTBF and

Vivendi Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and t ...

was set up with the name , which subsequently became ' in May 1995. In 1993, was replaced by and . In mid-January 2010, the RTBF adopted the new branding of RTBF.be in its main logo. 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 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 ...

's public broadcaster, ERT. By 2011, the analogue systems for RTBF.be were planned to be phased out for

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

''Bye Bye Belgium''

On 13 December 2006, at 20:21 CET (19:21

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

), the RTBF replaced an edition of its regular current affairs programme ' with a fake special news report in which it was claimed that

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

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 The Flemish Parliament (Dutch language, Dutch: , formerly called Flemish Council or ''Vlaamse Raad'') constitutes the legislature, legislative power in Flanders for matters which fall within the competence of Flanders, both as a geographic reg ...

, while Flemish separatists waved the

flag of Flanders The flag of Flanders, sometimes called the ''Vlaamse Leeuw'' ("Flemish Lion") or ''leeuwenvlag'' ("Lion flag"), is the flag of the Flemish Community and Flemish Region in Belgium. The flag was officially adopted by the Cultural Council for the Dut ...

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. The RTBF justified the hoax on the grounds that it raised the issue of

Flemish nationalism The Flemish Movement (, ) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemish cultur ...

, but others felt that it raised the issue of how much the public can trust the press.

Controversies

In September 2024,

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

Minister of Media Jacqueline 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 the

European Federation of Journalists The European Federation of Journalists is the European regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists. It describes itself as the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, and says it represents about 320,000 journalists ...

for alleged editorial interference. RTBF notably caused controversy in January 2025 by delaying the broadcast of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's second inaugural speech by two minutes, in order to prevent the live broadcast of statements inciting hatred. The decision was condemned as

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez and prompted an investigation from Galant.

Logo history

RTBF 1984.svg, RTBF's third logo from late 1982–1994 RTBF 1991.svg, RTBF's fourth logo from 1994–1997 RTBF logo old.svg, RTBF's fifth logo from 1997–2005 RTBF logo.png, RTBF's sixth and previous logo from 2005–2010.

Television channels

Television channels are transmitted: * On Hotbird

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

on , an encrypted pay satellite service. * On cable: analogue and digital on all Belgian cable providers, as well as on cable in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

; * On

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

lines through

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

Proximus Proximus (formerly known as Belgacom Mobile) is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is a part of Proximus Group (previously Belgacom Group). It competes with Orange Belgium and Base. History Proximus was f ...

, Scarlet and Billi customers, as well as PostTV in

;Included channels
PostTV * On satellite

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

worldwide as a participant in francophone channel; * On

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

using

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 ...

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

and VHF frequencies in

and

Current channels

* (''Channel One''): the RTBF's main channel television, formerly known as RTBF1; began in 1953 on VHF channel 10; in

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

color since 1973 * : formerly known as , , and ; began in 1977 * (''Channel Three''): the quality TV channel; began in 2007; there are no commercial adverts on this channel * : in collaboration with the Franco-German TV network

Video on demand

The

Video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

(VOD) offer of the RTBF is available on several platforms: * Web: Free VOD has been collected under the RTBF brand since 2016. Offering Catch up TV, allowing viewers to see all programs from the RTBF channels during 7 days after broadcast. * IDTV: Free catch-up TV and pay VOD *

Mobile device A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. ...

: and are available on several Belgian mobile networks. *

Video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Radio channels

The RTBF broadcasts radio channels in either analogue format ( FM and digital format (using DAB and

). All channels are also broadcast live over the Internet.

Analogue and digital

Digital-only channels

* : Focus on music of the hip hop, indie rock, electronic, new jazz, urban, soundtrack, folk acoustic, neo soul and world music genres * : Focus on music of the "Golden Sixties" and the 1970s * : Focus on live sports coverage and commentary

Streaming-only channels

* : Focus on the "Golden Sixties" * : Focus on music from the 1970s * : Focus on hit music from the 1980s * : Focus on

new wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop music, pop-oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of Punk subculture, punk culture". It was originally used as a catch-all fo ...

from the 1980s * : Focus on music from the 1990s * : Focus on blues * : Focus on live music * : Focus on metal * : Focus on rock * : Focus on route 66 related music * : Focus on soul * : Focus on underground music * : Focus on opera * : Focus on jazz * : Focus on classic music * : Focus on urban music * : Focus on music from the 1990s and 2000s They also have a TMC service transmitted on ''Classic 21''.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Television networks in Belgium French-language television networks Television channels in Belgium Publicly funded broadcasters French-language television in Belgium European Broadcasting Union members Radio stations established in 1930 Television channels and stations established in 1953 1977 establishments in Belgium Mass media in Brussels Belgian news websites YouTube channels launched in 2006