RTBF Sport

What is RTBF Sport?

RTBF Sport is the sport output of the RTBF, the public broadcaster of the French Community, which names itself Radio Télévision Belge Francophone. Its sport section, at rtbf.be/sport, carried on 26 September 2026 the description “Toute l'actu sport en direct : foot, cyclisme, formule 1, tennis...” and listed the RTBF's channels and services, among them La Une, Tipik, VivaSport and Auvio.^[1] The service is French-language, and the Community it serves is the French Community.

The broadcaster's statute is, in the words of its management contract, “le décret du 14 juillet 1997 portant statut de la RTBF”. The sixth management contract, which the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), the French Community's regulator, publishes on its site, states: “Il entre en vigueur le 1er janvier 2023 pour une durée de 5 ans, soit jusqu'au 31 décembre 2027.”^[2][3]

What does RTBF Sport cover?

The contract. Section 14 of the contract, headed Sport, opens: “Le sport est un vecteur de santé, d'émancipation, de diversité et de cohésion sociale. La RTBF diffuse des contenus d'informations sportives et des retransmissions d'événements sportifs, en couvrant l'éventail le plus large possible de disciplines.” It continues: “La RTBF renforce la couverture des athlètes et des compétitions féminines et la présence de femmes journalistes, expertes et consultantes dans les programmes sportifs”, and states that it “inclut résolument le handisport dans ses contenus”.^[3]

The 2025 amendment. The French Community government approved a first amendment to the contract by an order of 11 July 2025, published in the Moniteur belge on 6 August 2025.^[4] Its Article 4 deletes the sentence “La RTBF peut acquérir des droits de diffusion et de retransmission, en direct ou en différé, soit seule, soit en partenariat avec tout tiers intéressé, dans le respect d'une saine maîtrise budgétaire.” and replaces it with: “La RTBF adoptera une approche conforme au marché et soucieuse des coûts. Elle reverra dans ce cadre sa politique d'acquisition des droits de diffusion en clair de programmes sportifs, de telle manière à ne pas faire obstacle aux chaînes de télévision privées belges francophones diffusant en clair qui désirent les acquérir au prix du marché. Ceci ne porte pas atteinte à la réalisation de ses missions de service public.” The same amendment describes Tipik as “la chaîne « Jeunes adultes » qui diffuse toutes les thématiques les concernant et qui est également la chaîne du sport”.^[5]

Events. The RTBF's 2025 annual report names among that year's sport coverage the Red Flames, the Belgian women's football team, the Belgian Cats at the European basketball championship, and cycling. It states: “La RTBF a prolongé jusqu'en 2029 les droits de diffusion des matches qualificatifs et amicaux des Red Flames.”^[6] In football, the Pro League announced in December 2024 that RTBF and VRT had secured radio rights for 2025 to 2030.^[7]

How large is RTBF Sport's audience?

Audiences in Belgium are measured by the CIM, whose own site could not be retrieved; the figures here are the RTBF's own account of CIM data.

The RTBF's 2025 annual report gives the broadcaster a 27.5 per cent television audience share among viewers aged four and over, and gives its source as CIM audimetry, target 4+, Live+7. It states that it keeps its “leadership, sur la cible 4+, pour la 7e année consécutive”; that is the broadcaster's own claim.^[6] That is a figure for all RTBF television, not for sport alone. No audited figure for rtbf.be/sport alone was retrieved.

Since when has RTBF Sport existed?

The RTBF pages read give no founding date for the broadcaster or for its sport service. What is dated is the frame: the statute of 14 July 1997, named in the contract; the sixth management contract, which the CSA posted on 24 February 2023 and which runs from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2027; and the first amendment, whose approving order states that it enters into force on 11 July 2025.^[2][3][5] The contract's numbering, sixth, is its own.

Why does RTBF Sport matter in Belgium's sport?

RTBF Sport is the sports output of the statutory public broadcaster of the French Community, bound by a contract that names sport as a subject, sets out coverage of women's competitions and handisport, and since July 2025 requires it to review its acquisition of free-to-air sports rights so as not to obstruct private French-language channels.^[3][5] In football it holds, with VRT, the Pro League's radio rights for 2025 to 2030.^[7]

Two monitoring bodies have published on the public broadcasters. Reporters Without Borders states that “The Belgian government governs the major regional radio and television broadcasters, RTBF and VRT, through their boards of directors, made up of representatives of the main political parties”, and that the CSA and the VRM “reflect various ideological trends and ensure that a diversity of viewpoints are expressed”.^[8] The Media Pluralism Monitor's Belgium 2026 page states: “Some concern have emerged in terms of funding in the PSM sphere.”^[9] Those are the two bodies' words.