|
The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, or VRT, is the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Region and Community of Belgium.
It is the successor to the Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroep, Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep, and Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen. The NIR and BRT had each been single state-owned entities with separate Dutch- and French-language production departments, but with the growing degree of federalism resulting from state reform in Belgium, BRT/RTB went their separate ways in 1977. The former French half changed its name to RTBF in 1977, while the Dutch side retained the BRT name until becoming BRTN in 1991. However, the two broadcasters share production facilities on Auguste Reyerslaan in Brussels.
The final renaming to VRT, on 1 January 1998, followed a change in the organization's legal status: from being part of a semi-governmental entity it had, on 16 April 1997, became a publicly owned corporation in its own right.
|
