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RTBF or Radio télévision belge de la communauté française is the national broadcasting organisation of the government of the French-speaking southern part of Belgium, the counterpart to the Dutch-speaking VRT in the northern part of the country. RTBF operates three television channels, La Une, La Deux and RTBF Sat (Satellite TV), along with a number of radio channels, La Première, RTBF International, VivaCité, Musiq3, Classic21 and PureFM.

The RTBF headquarters in Brussels are sometimes referred to as Reyers [1] [2] [3]. This colloquial address comes from the name of the avenue where the main building is located, the Boulevard A. Reyers (Dutch: Reyerslaan).

Contents 1 History 2 Controversy 3 See also 4 External link

Originally named INR (Institut national de radiodiffusion), the state-controlled broadcaster was established by law on June 18, 1930. On June 14, 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. Personnel from the former INR (now called Radio Belgique/Radio Belgie) relocated to BBC studios in London. The Belgian government-in-exile established the Office de Radiodiffusion Nationale Belge (RNB) in June 1940, which was overseen by the Belgian Ministry of Information.

At the end of the War the INR and the RNB coexisted until September 14, 1945 and a Royal Decree restored the INR's original mission. In 1953, broadcasting from the heart of Brussels, Belgian television inaugurated broadcasts for two hours a day. In 1950 INR was one of 23 founding organisations of the European Broadcasting Union. The INR was subsumed into RTB (Radio-Télévision Belge) in 1960 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 broadcast in 1971. Two years later the RTB went on air with its first News programme in colour.

In 1977 the RTB was subsumed into the RTBF (Radio-Télévison Belge de la Communauté française) and a second TV channel was set up with the name RTbis. In 1979 RTbis became "Télé 2". Along with French channels TF1, Antenne 2, FR 3 and SSR, RTBF jointly established the European French-speaking channel TV5 in 1984. On March 21, 1988 Télé 2 became Télé 21. On September 27, 1989 a subsidiary company of RTBF 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 Sport 21.

Main article: Flemish Secession hoax

On 13 December 2006, at 20:21 GMT+1 (19:21 UTC), the RTBF interrupted its regular program Questions à la Une to air a fake news report in which it was claimed that Flanders had proclaimed independence, effectively dissolving the Belgian state. The news report aired on-screen text saying, "This is nothing but fiction," thirty minutes into the broadcast. By that point however, the RTBF's response line had been flooded with calls.

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, Flemish 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 French Wikipedia and Dutch Wikipedia have an article about the fake news report claiming Flanders' independence : Émission spéciale de La Une du 13 décembre 2006 (French) and RTBF-uitzending over de onafhankelijkheid van Vlaanderen (Dutch)

• RTL-TVI, a private French-spaking channel in Belgium major competitor of RTBF
• Luc Varenne, a famous reporter
• List of television channels in Belgium

• Official Site (French)