BNT 1
BNT 1 is a Bulgarian-language public television station founded in 1959. It began broadcasting on December 26 the same year. The headquarters are located in Sofia, Bulgaria. BNT 1 is run by the Bulgarian National Television.
When it was initially launched, the channel was called simply Bulgarian Television, as it was the only channel available. When a second state-owned channel was started in 1974, it was renamed to First Programme, and later to "BT 1" . In 1992, BT 1 and BT 2 were given separate visual designs and were renamed respectively to Channel 1 and Efir 2. In this period, the channel was also referred to as BNT Channel 1, to show that it was operated by the BNT. On 14 September 2008 BNT Channel 1 changed its name once more, this time to "BNT 1" in an effort to put all BNT channels under a single banner. The second BNT channel called BNT 2 broadcasts the local programming of the former four regional TV centres, and broadcasts nationally. It airs sports like the UEFA Europa League along with bTV Action and RING.
BNT 1, along with its sister channel BNT 2 and the sports channel BNT 3 holds the rights for the Euro and the Olympics.
