Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie

Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie

Type	Broadcast radio, television and online
Country	Flanders (includes Brussels)
Availability	Belgium
Owner	Flemish Community
Launch date	1930 (radio) 1953 (television)
Former names	NIR (1930–1960), BRT (1960–1991), BRTN (1991–1998)
Official website	www.vrt.be

The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (Flemish Radio and Television Broadcasting Organization), 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 (NIR; 1930–60), Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep (BRT; 1960–1991), and Belgische Radio- en Televisieomroep Nederlandstalige Uitzendingen (BRTN; 1991–1998). The NIR (known as the INR in French) and BRT (RTB in French) 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 (French: Boulevard Auguste Reyers) 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 (a parastatale in Belgian terminology) it had, on 16 April 1997, became a publicly owned corporation (NV van publiek recht) in its own right.

As successors to the NIR/INR, VRT and its counterpart in the French Community of Belgium, RTBF, are both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – an association of public broadcasters in the countries of Europe and the Mediterranean rim that, amongst other activities, organizes the annual Eurovision Song Contest.

With the ending of its television monopoly – marked by the creation of VTM, a commercial television company that initially captured more than half of VRT's audience – the public broadcaster has been compelled to fight back, and part of its successful response has been the use of external production houses such as Woestijnvis, the creator of such formats as The Mole (De mol) and Man bijt hond.