Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση

Type	Broadcaster (Television, Radio & Online)
Country	Greece
Availability	Greece Worldwide
Owner	Publicly owned
Launch date	1938 (radio) 23 February 1966 (TV)
Former names	EIR (National Radio Foundation) (1938-1970) EIRT (National Radio Television Foundation) (1970-1974)
Picture format	576i 16:9 (SDTV) 1080i 16:9 (HDTV)
Official website	ERT Online

The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation^[1] (Greek: Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi or ERT, literally "Greek Radio-Television") is the Greek state-owned public radio and television broadcasting corporation. It is a member of EBU.Since 70's ERT is part of the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by EBU. Around 88% of ERT's funding comes from television licence fees [1].

On 19 August 2011 the company announced that it would become a public company but no longer state-owned.^[2]

History [edit]

ERT began broadcasting in 1938, initially limited to radio services from Athens. At that time the company was known as the EIR (National Radio Foundation). In the years of World War II, broadcasting stopped during the Nazi occupation of Greece. After World War II, broadcasting resumed and the radio services were expanded to three national radio services as well as international radio services for immigrant Greeks. EIR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.

Test television broadcasts began in 1965 and full TV service began in 1966. In 1970, the company was renamed EIRT (National Radio and Television Foundation). At that time there were only two TV services - ERT and a second one (ΥΕΝΕΔ/YENED) that was operated and controlled by the Greek Army. It was used as a propaganda medium by the military government of Greece until its fall in 1974. Quite remarkably, the station retained its name and military orientation until the early 1980s, when it was renamed to ERT2. On September 1, 1987, a third station was added - ET3, based in Thessaloniki, with mostly regional programming focused on Northern Greece.

During the first 20 years of TV services in Greece, 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 in Athens. It has been broadcasting the Olympic Games in Greece since the Mexico City Games of 1968. It also broadcasts IAAF games while it is shown on privately owned channels mainly in the United States. Today it broadcasts documentaries, some from the private sector, and a few animated 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^{[citation needed]}, 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 will now be NET and ET3, while ET1 will be incorporated into the program of NET and ET3.^[2] Additionally the digital channels Cine+ and Sport+ will also stop broadcasting, and their programming will again be incorporated into that of the company's two major domestic channels.^[2] ERT World is also scheduled to see a change in its programming to reflect the needs of the Greek diaspora as identified by a survey conducted by ERT.^[2] The Minister of State also said that the company would become public but no longer state-owned.^[2]

Timeline [edit]

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Services [edit]

Radio [edit]

ERT broadcasts radio programmes under the name of ERA (Elliniki Radiofonia, "Greek Radio"), which it has done since 1988. Under this name, ERT broadcasts four national radio services. The first one, ERA 1 (Πρώτο Πρόγραμμα), is primarily a news-oriented station, with some current affairs and talk programming. ERA2 (Δεύτερο Πρόγραμμα) is primarily a music station, while ERA3 (Τρίτο Πρόγραμμα) is more of a classical music/arts & culture station (with some drama thrown in). ERA Sport (ERA4) is a sports-oriented station, with regular news every hour and sports news every half-hour. During the late night hours all ERA programmes air a common night program. For regional audiences, ERT also has 19 regional stations with relays. The regional station in Macedonia is 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).

In the cities of Athens and Corinth, two additional programmes are aired. KOSMOS is primarily a world music station, on FM exclusively in Athens. FILIA is a multilingual station directed mostly towards immigrants, on FM and AM in both Athens and Corinth; the AM channel also airs KOSMOS in the late night hours.

ERT also broadcasts the Voice of Greece (ERA 5) for an international audience, using shortwave. Under the name of the ERA International Network, Voice of Greece and some ERA domestic programmes are rebroadcast on AM and FM stations throughout the globe. In addition, the ERT regional station in Macedonia can also be heard on shortwave. In September 2004, ERA Spor & ERA 5 were added to Dish Network's lineup of Greek channels, giving viewers in North America access to 2 of Greece's public radio stations.

Television [edit]

Today there are three nation-wide channels in Greece, two (ET1 & NET) from the Radiomegaron in Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, the main ERT headquarters. The building's size is 360,000m². There is a large television facility north-east of Athens at Mesogeion Avenue. The third channel, ET3, broadcasts from Thessaloniki and is a regional channel which caters to Northern Greece and broadcasts nation-wide.

ERT also broadcasts an international channel, ERT World (formerly ERT Sat), which is only available to international audiences, outside of Greece. ERT World broadcasts as a subscription service or FTA to Europe, North America, Asia & Australia.

TV channels [edit]

Current channels [edit]

• ET1 - broadcasting from Athens
• NET - broadcasting from Athens
• ET3 - broadcasting from Thessaloniki
• ERT HD - HD channel started transmissions on April 27, 2011
• ERT World - a compendium of all ERT programming, mainly intended for the Greek diaspora via satellite
• Vouli Tileorasi - the channel of the Greek Parliament

Previous channels [edit]

• Ciné+ - movies
• Sport+ - sports
• Prisma+ - program for hearing impaired
• Cinesport+ - movies and sports
• Studio+ - music (in association with MAD TV)
• Info+ - news and current affairs

Programming [edit]

For a list of programmes, see List of programs broadcast by ERT

Funding [edit]

ERT is mainly funded by license fees. The fee is a fixed percentage of each electricity bill and is paid along with this bill. It is not connected with actual ownership of a TV set.

See also [edit]

• List of Greek television channels
• List of radio stations in Greece

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Official Site (Greek) (English)
• ET3 (Greek)
• Voice of Greece