VTM

VTM logo (2020 -)

## Availability

### Terrestial

TV Vlaanderen Antenne - Channel 1, Mux 2 (SD)Digitenne (Netherlands) - Channel 14 (HD)

### Streaming live

VTM GO

**VTM** (abbreviation for *Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij*, "Flemish Television Company" in Dutch ), is a private commercial generalist television channel of the Flemish Community of Belgium. VTM belongs to DPG Media. The slogan of VTM is "VTM kleurt je dag"

## Channel description

VTM is the largest Flemish channel that wants to touch and move the Fleming and his family every day. For more than 30 years, VTM has been winning over Flemish viewers with surprising entertainment, homegrown top fiction and high-profile current affairs programmes.

Dirk Lodewyckx, General Director TV, Streaming and Radio: “VTM is currently a powerful brand, with great creative content and an enormous fan base in Flanders. We are expanding the unique relationship that VTM has with Flemings and turning our family channel into a family of channels that will appeal to every target group.”

## Channel history

The run-up to VTM was a long and laborious process that started in 1981. As stipulated by the "cable" decree ( kabeldecreet ) of the Flemish Community, the VTM channel is exclusively available via the cable networks, and cannot be received on hertzian frequency. Since March 2006, the channel has also been available on satellite via a subscription to TV Vlaanderen. Since March 2006, VTM can also be viewed via satellite in combination with a subscription to TV Vlaanderen. The cable decree came about through the sustained efforts of Patrick Dewael, then Community Minister for Culture in the Flemish Executive. VTM was made possible because television advertising was possible, both for 'national' commercial television and for regional television stations.

The "cable decree" of 1987 was adopted on the initiative of Patrick Dewael , then Minister of Culture within the Flemish Executive . By authorizing the broadcasting of commercial television channels in Flanders, this decree allowed the creation of VTM in 1989.

In 1987, nine publishers, each with 11.1% of the shares, founded the new Vlaamse Television Maatschappij (VTM), of which Jan Merckx became chairman of the board of directors. In 1988, this company obtained the monopoly for the establishment of a commercial television channel in Flanders. The publishers had little or no knowledge of the medium of television and started looking for practical performers. From the various proposals that were presented to them, they chose, mainly under the impetus of Jan Merckx, the proposal of Guido Depraetere , who had devoted extensive study to this beforehand. He was named program director, with his friend Mike Verdrengh as assistant director. The first broadcast took place on February 1, 1989.

Mike Verdrengh and Guido Depraetere, who cut their teeth at the BRTN as presenters and producers, developed a program schedule intended to be close to the Flemish viewer. VTM thus hired many popular personalities who worked on the BRTN/VRT such as Walter Capiau , Carry Goossens (1993), Luc Appermont, Gaston Berghmans, Leo Martin , Bart Peeters (1995–1999), Jacques Vermeire (1995–2009), Stef Wauters, and Rob Vanoudenhoven. In addition, VTM adopted a deliberately competitive program schedule. This is how the channel's newscast was scheduled at 7 p.m., while the BRT newsreel did not start until half past seven and was obliged to move its newsreel to seven o'clock as well. Another example: VTM launched the Familie series in 1991, the first Flemish soap. The VRT will only follow in 1995, with the Thuis series .

In 1996, Depraetere and Verdrengh left their leading positions at VTM. The departure was based on a difference of opinion with the board of directors about the further development of the commercial channel. Both remained active as external consultants for the VTM in the development of program formats and the supervision of productions and presenters.

Although conditions were attached to the license (partly in order to be able to defend the advertising monopoly, which was deemed necessary because the market was said to be too small), VTM has often been accused of trying to infantilize its audience. Have been singled out programs such as Rad van Fortuin ( The wheel of fortune ), Blind Date , Wedden, dat ..? , Walters Verjaardagsshow , the Bompa and Nonkel Jef series , etc. However, VTM also got more critical reviews for some of its series, like Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Ons geluk, and De Raf in Ronny Show.

At the end of the 1990s, VTM's market share fell sharply, from 35% to 20 to 25%, mainly due to a renewal operation at VRT TV1 (now Eén ).

In August 2003, VTM got two new program directors: film director Jan Verheyen and Bert Geenen, with the mission of renovating the image of the channel, towards more modernity and freshness. Thus, the old logo with three stripes was replaced by a logo bearing the letters "vtm" (now in lowercase) in white on an orange background. In January 2005, Verheyen submitted his resignation because, according to him, "his work was finished".

In June 2005, the position of Managing Director of Programming for the entire VMMa group (today called " Medialaan ") was created. Jan Segers, hitherto Creative Director at the production company Eyeworks, VTM's main program provider, was the first to occupy it. For his part, Bert Geenen became channel director of VTM. By virtue of his position, Segers was responsible for all programming, with the exception of news broadcasts, which were the responsibility of Eric Goens, the News Director.

In August 2006, Bert Geenen became director of programs for Talpa Service III, the holding company on which 4FM notably depended. In the same year, VTM launched a digital television pilot project: VTMzomer (" VTM of the Summer"), which was available on Belgacom TV and Proximus TV from June 20 to September 22. The experience was renewed during the end-of-year celebrations with VTMkerst (“Christmas VTM”), which was broadcast on the Telenet platform . VTMkerst also offered a premiere: the broadcast of the series De Kavijaks , one of the most expensive series in the history of Flemish television, with Jan Decleir and two of his children in the main roles. There was great commotion in December because this series was first shown on the Dutch public broadcaster.

In addition, VTM developed a project for a digital channel entirely devoted to news. Scheduled for the fall of 2007, it had the working name 24/7. However, the project was repeatedly postponed and ultimately never saw the light of day. In September 2007, VTM launched a television news program for young people called Zoom, for which it obtained subsidies from the Flemish Government. At the end of December 2007, VTM fired its announcers, considering that they no longer corresponded to the image of the channel. While Elke Vanelderen and Tess Goossens remained at VTM, Anne De Baetzelier had said goodbye to broadcasters a few weeks before the news was announced, and Erika Van Tielen moved to Studio Brussel.

On February 29, 2008, VTM was drastically renewed, including a new logo. The same was true for Het Nieuws, the dome that has brought together all of the channel's news programs since 2004. Programs such as Sara and Mijn Restaurant received good ratings. Meanwhile, VTM was criticized for producing too many reality TV programs to the detriment of fiction. The channel responded by launching five new series: Jes, De Rodenburgs, Code 37, Dag & Nacht: Hotel Eburon, and Dope.

In 2012, the antenna of VTM was once again renewed. A new logo was unveiled, along with a new slogan: Je beleeft het hier (literally: you experience it here ). The channel also acquired a jingle, which can be heard regularly on the air. Finally, on February 18, 2013, Het Nieuws was revamped on its return, with a new name (VTM Nieuws), a new logo, and a new studio.

In the summer of 2014, VTM celebrated its 25th anniversary. For example, VTM brought Family Council back from under the dust and let figureheads of former VTM programs take office as candidates. Also, 10 op te zien was taken from under the dust. The program was partly filled by imitators from Tegen de Sterren op , which is why the program was called Tien Om Tegen De Sterren Op Te Zien. On August 11, 2014, the program was recorded in Blankenberge and on August 20 in Nieuwpoort. In Nieuwpoort, 25 years of VTM ended with a light and sound show with an estimated 16,000 spectators. [5]

In 2018, a new logo and a design revolving around pointers were introduced. A rebranding whose author is the French agency Gédéon, which at the same time dresses up the VTM Nieuws and Het Weer programs.

On February 1, 2019, the channel celebrated its 30th anniversary with a grand show full of faces from the past 30 years. That show was watched by more than 1.3 million people. In addition, they posted episodes of 30 well-known programs that have been shown in the past 30 years on their website.

Since February 3, 2020, VTM News has been broadcasting from a studio of the parent company in the city of Antwerp.

On August 10, 2020, DPG Media announced that Q2, Vitaya, and CAZ will be replaced by VTM 2 , VTM 3, and VTM 4, respectively, from August 31, 2020. [7] Together with VTM, the four channels get the old slogan "VTM kleurt je dag".

On November 6, 2020, 2,110,316 people watched the first season finale of The Masked Singer. That is the most watched program ever in the history of the channel. With that, the program breaks the record of Wedden, dat ..? , which attracted nearly 2.1 million people to the channel in 1989.

## Services

### Reception

VTM can be received analogue via Telenet 's cable network . VTM can be received digitally in SD and HD quality at Telenet Digital TV , Proximus TV , Orange TV , TV Vlaanderen , Telesat , Scarlet , Voo and JOYNE . The channel can be viewed online via TV Overal (Proximus), Telenet TV and VTM GO .

### TamTam

TamTam was a program block with children's programs that was broadcast every morning by VTM from 2000 to early 2008. Well-known programs included De Wereld van K3 , Kabouter Plop and Schuif Af . On 1 October 2009, VTM started a separate children's channel.

### Christmas Parade

Every year around the Christmas period , VTM organized a VTM Christmas parade in the Flemish provinces. This departed every time at 5 p.m. in the city center of Ghent , Bruges , Blankenberge , Antwerp , Ninove , Genk , Ypres and Sint-Truiden , among others . The parade attracted many viewers every year, partly because the VTM faces participated in the parade. There were also floats that were fully illuminated and included themes from Miffy , TamTam , Kabouter Plopand the big float with the reindeer and the sleigh. In 2007, the parade also took place in the Netherlands for the first time on December 22 in Almere . The Dutch commercial broadcaster SBS6 and the municipality of Almere signed up for the organization. The parade attracted around 100,000 spectators. In 2009 the Christmas parade came to Waregem and Leuven . Since the Christmas period of 2012, the Christmas parades are no longer organized by VTM.

### Teletext and live subtitle

VTM started a teletext service on 1 February 1996 which was stopped on 1 November 2014. The page 888 is still available for subtitles.

## Programs

### Current

* Familie (1991 - now) - soap series
* De Kotmadam (1991 - now) - soap series
* Wittekerke (1995 - now) - soap series
* Boer zkt vrouw (2004 - now) - dating show
* BBQ Street (2023 - now) - cooking show
* Loïc tussen 2 vuren (2021 - now) - cooking show

### VTM Nieuws

VTM Nieuws is the news service of VTM. The bulletins broadcast everyday at 13h and 19h. Weather news come after each bulletins.

### VTM KIDS

* Kabouter Plop
* Wakandy
* Spirit: Samen vrij
* Maya de Bij
* Flin & Flo

### International

* White Collar (2012 - 2014) - American crime series produced by Fox Studios
* Chicago Fire (2012 - now) - American crime series produced by NBC
* Chicago P.D. (2014 - now) - American crime series produced by NBC
* A million little things (2018 - 2023) - American series produced by ABC
* Lewis (2006 - 2009) - English detective series produced by ITV

### Former

* LouisLouise (2008 - 2009) - romantic comedy series
* Echte verhalen: De kliniek (2013-2014) - reality series
* Echte Verhalen: De Buurtpolitie (2014 - 2020) - reality series
* Axel gaat binnen (2019 - 2020) - reality show
* Nonkel Jef (1995 - 2001) - comedy

## References

1. ↑ https://www.dpgmediagroup.com/nl-BE/vtm
2. ↑ http://www.tv-visie.be/nieuws/belgie/6juni2006/vt4-en-vtm-ook-op-satelliet\_9180/
3. ↑ https://www.liberas.eu/30-jaar-vtm/
4. ↑ https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/g3d8covn
5. ↑ https://www.gva.be/cnt/dmf20200203\_04832832/vtm-nieuws-zendt-voor-het-eerst-uit-vanuit-antwerpen
6. ↑ http://www.nieuws.be/nieuws/Vtm\_organiseert\_kerstparade\_niet\_langer\_meer\_5b4b46a8.aspx
.