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Television · Lithuania

LRT

Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija, the public broadcaster that its 1996 law makes a public institution solely owned by the state; its sport output is published at lrt.lt/naujienos/sportas.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026
Full nameLietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija (VšĮ), per its site’s footer and the regulator’s register
StatuteLietuvos nacionalinio radijo ir televizijos įstatymas, No. I-1571 of 8 October 1996, consolidated edition in force from 13 June to 31 December 2026
Legal status“LRT yra nepriklausoma viešoji įstaiga, kurios vienintelė savininkė yra valstybė”, Article 2 of its law
FundingArticle 19(1): state-budget allocations, programme sales, sponsorship announcements, publishing, support and commercial activity; Article 19(6): allocations for 2026 to 2028 equal those for 2025; the Article 19(5) formula, 0.75 per cent of income tax and 0.8 per cent of excise revenues with a floor at the average of the last three budget years, applies from 2029
First broadcastsRadio 12 June 1926 and television 30 April 1957, as LRT’s own history states
Sport locationlrt.lt/naujienos/sportas, a path of the broadcaster’s domain

What is LRT?

LRT is Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija, Lithuania's public broadcaster. Its site publishes sport at lrt.lt/naujienos/sportas, a path of its own domain, under the footer “Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija© 2026. Visos teisės saugomos”.[1] Its own page on the media group lists three television channels, LRT TELEVIZIJA, LRT PLIUS and LRT LITUANICA; three radio channels, LRT RADIJAS, LRT KLASIKA and LRT OPUS; and, among its portals, LRT.lt, LRT ENGLISH and the Russian-language LRT NOVOSTI. It describes LRT PLIUS as “Specializuotas turinys, kur daugiau dėmesio skiriama kultūrai ir sportui”, specialised content with more attention to culture and sport.[2] The media regulator's list of national programmes gives LRT TELEVIZIJA, LRT PLIUS, LRT RADIJAS, LRT KLASIKA and LRT OPUS under the broadcaster VšĮ LIETUVOS NACIONALINIS RADIJAS IR TELEVIZIJA.[3]

Its statute is the Lietuvos nacionalinio radijo ir televizijos įstatymas, No. I-1571 of 8 October 1996. The text read here is the consolidated edition in force from 13 June 2026, to which the register gives an end date of 31 December 2026. Article 1(1) states that the law sets LRT's legal status, its governance, activity, reorganisation and liquidation, and its duties, rights and responsibility. Article 2 states: “LRT yra nepriklausoma viešoji įstaiga, kurios vienintelė savininkė yra valstybė.” That is, LRT is an independent public institution whose sole owner is the state.[4]

What does LRT cover?

LRT's sport section is divided into basketball, football, athletics, water sports, winter sports, motor sport, combat sports and other sport.[1] When retrieved on 25 September 2026 its most recent items were mostly basketball: a review of the EuroLeague season ahead for Žalgiris, and several items on Rytas at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in China, including a report of 22 September that Rytas had begun the tournament with a win. The same page carried a European orienteering championships item on three Lithuanians in the long-distance final, a rallycross season final in Riga, the men's football team's coming fixtures, and a report of 19 September on Lithuanian gold medals at a world youth 3x3 basketball championship.[1] Those are one week's items and not a statement about the broadcaster's programming.

On television, Kantar's tables of the most-watched programmes for January to March 2026 list three sport-related broadcasts among LRT Televizija's top five: the King Mindaugas Cup game Rytas–Žalgiris, the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which the table types as entertainment, and the FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifier Iceland–Lithuania.[5]

How large is LRT's audience?

Television audiences in Lithuania are measured by Kantar from a panel of about 1,200 respondents in 500 households. Its published quarterly tables give each channel's most-watched programmes as a consolidated rating, including seven-day time-shifted viewing. For January to March 2026 they give the King Mindaugas Cup game Rytas–Žalgiris on LRT Televizija a rating of 11 per cent, the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony 9.8 per cent, and the FIBA World Cup qualifier Iceland–Lithuania 9.7 per cent.[5] Those are single programmes, not channel shares.

LRT's own account of 2025, published on 22 June 2026, states that on Kantar's data LRT TELEVIZIJA's audience share rose over the year from 14.5 to 16.3 per cent, its rating from 2 to 2.2 per cent and its average daily reach from 28.9 to 30.5 per cent, and that 609,900 people watched at least part of the FIBA World Cup qualifier between Italy and Lithuania.[6] Those are LRT's statements about itself, citing Kantar.

Since when has LRT existed?

LRT's own history gives two starting dates: “1926 m. birželio 12 d. pradėjo transliuoti LRT radijas” and “1957 m. balandžio 30 d. pradėjo transliuoti Lietuvos televizija” — radio broadcasting began on 12 June 1926 and Lithuanian television on 30 April 1957.[7] Those are the broadcaster's statements about itself. The law under which it now operates dates from 8 October 1996.[4]

Why does LRT matter in Lithuania's sport?

Article 19(1) of its law lists LRT's funding as state-budget allocations, revenue from programme sales, sponsorship announcements and publishing, and support and revenue from commercial and economic activity. Article 19(5) reads: “LRT iš valstybės biudžeto skiriamų lėšų dydis kiekvienais metais sudaro užpraeitų metų faktiškai gautų 0,75 procento valstybės biudžeto ir savivaldybių biudžetų pajamų iš gyventojų pajamų mokesčio ir 0,8 procento iš akcizo pajamų.” That is, each year's allocation equals 0.75 per cent of the state and municipal budgets' revenues from personal income tax and 0.8 per cent of excise revenues actually received in the year before last. It continues: “LRT skiriamų asignavimų dydis neturi būti mažesnis už paskutinių trejų biudžetinių metų LRT skirtų valstybės biudžeto asignavimų vidurkį.” That is, the allocation may not be lower than the average of the last three budget years' allocations. Those provisions are not the ones applied now. A note of the register to Article 19(5) states that its provisions apply to allocations “2029 m. ar vėlesniais metais”, in 2029 or later years, and Article 19(6) reads: “2026–2028 metais LRT skiriami valstybės biudžeto asignavimai yra lygūs 2025 metų LRT skirtiems valstybės biudžeto asignavimams.” That is, LRT's state-budget allocations for 2026 to 2028 equal those for 2025.[4] The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom's Media Pluralism Monitor 2026 states: “At the end of 2025, the Lithuanian Parliament froze the 2026-2028 allocation to the Lithuanian national radio and television (LRT) from the state budget at the 2025 level.” It reports that in January 2026 the European Parliament adopted a resolution stating “that the freezing of LRT funding, as well as proposals to simplify the dismissal of the general director, may constitute political pressure for the public service media and violate EU law, in particular the European Media Freedom Act.”[8] The first is the CMPF's statement; the second is the Parliament's resolution as the CMPF reports it.

Reporters Without Borders reported on 1 June 2026 that “Lithuanian lawmakers have dropped the most problematic amendments to the law governing the Lithuanian Radio and Television (LRT)”, and called on Parliament to close what it called “a remaining loophole that could still be weaponised to dismiss the broadcaster's current head.”[9] Those are RSF's words.

In sport, LRT's television carried the King Mindaugas Cup, the opening of the 2026 Winter Olympics and a national-team World Cup qualifier among its most-watched programmes of early 2026, and its sport section gives athletics, water sports and winter sports their own sub-sections beside basketball and football.[5][1]

References

  1. LRT — Sportas (sport section: sub-sections, headlines and footer as retrieved 25 September 2026). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  2. LRT — LRT kanalai (media group: television, radio and portal channels described). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  3. Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos komisija (LRTK) — Nacionalinės radijo ir televizijos programos (programmes and broadcasters, as retrieved 25 September 2026). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  4. e-TAR — Lietuvos Respublikos Lietuvos nacionalinio radijo ir televizijos įstatymas, 1996 m. spalio 8 d. Nr. I-1571, consolidated edition in force from 2026-06-13 to 2026-12-31 (PDF): Articles 1, 2, 19(5) with the register’s note, and 19(6). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  5. Kantar (Fifty5Blue) Lietuva — TV auditorijos tyrimo rezultatai 2026 m. sausis–kovas (10 April 2026; most-watched programmes by channel, consolidated rating; about 1,200 respondents in 500 households). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  6. LRT — LRT atsiskaito visuomenei: 2025-ieji – laisvo žodžio, augančio ryšio su auditorija metai (22 June 2026; LRT’s account of 2025, citing Kantar). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  7. LRT — Istorija (first radio broadcast 12 June 1926; first television broadcast 30 April 1957). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  8. Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (EUI) — Media Pluralism Monitor 2026: Lithuania (2 July 2026). Accessed 2026-09-25.
  9. Reporters Without Borders — Lithuania: despite progress on reforms, a lingering loophole could threaten the public broadcaster’s independence (1 June 2026). Accessed 2026-09-25.