The Bulgarian National Television or BNT is the public broadcaster of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian National Television was founded in 1959 and started broadcasting on December 26 of the same year. It was the first television service to broadcast on the territory of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian National Television broadcasts on four different themed channels – BNT 1 – a 24-hour program with national significance, BNT 2 – cultural-based channel that offers a variety of programmes covering all aspects of day-to-day life of the Bulgarian people, culture, arts, sports, entertainment and films and series. BNT 3 – sport-based channel and BNT 4 which broadcasts internationally and provides cultural and informative content produced in Bulgaria to meet the needs and interests of the nearly 3 million Bulgarians living in countries around the world and keep them connected with their homeland. BNT operates four regional broadcasting centers, based in Blagoevgrad, Varna, Plovdiv and Rousse. BNT operates on the basis of the ‘Radio and Television Act’. Under the Act, BNT is a legal entity based in Sofia and it is the nationalpublic service broadcaster and communications operator. As a public service broadcaster, the main purpose of BNT is to deliver a broad range of news and programming that keeps its audience informed about important issues and events in the areas of politics, economics, business, culture, science and education. Through its programming policy, BNT protects national interests and values, science and education; and represents the cultural heritage of all Bulgarian citizens, irrespective of their ethnicity. BNT caters for the diverse ideas and beliefs within society by reflecting the many different points of view and encouraging mutual understanding and tolerance in the relations between people. BNT has the commitment to produce a broad spectrum of national and regional programmes including ones about other countries, societies and cultures around the world; programmes that meet the needs of Bulgarian citizens whose mother-tongue is not Bulgarian, by the inclusion of original content in their own language; and programmes that keep Bulgarians living abroad up-to date with events in their home country. BNT is a member of International Radio and Television Organisation, The European Broadcasting Union , EGTA, IMZ, CIRCOM Regional, FIAT and BBLF.
History
The first broadcast of the first Bulgarian television was in 1959. The archive had recorders, photos and movies which were for the public in the end of the 1950s and beginning of '60s. Since 1964 BNT began broadcasting news and movies in monochrome to serve the rising number of viewers in Bulgaria. Since 1975 the first video programs in the 2inch format were made. In 1977 a fond about the broadcasting and movies from the program was created. In 1983 recorders with one-inch tape were made. The end of the 2 inch era was in 1984. The year 1991 is very important for the Bulgarian National Television. All records started to be recorded on computer and digitized for better quality that is available in a variety of other formats. In 1992, a gold fond about all archives was created with 2,000 photos and 33,000 information objects In 2010 the Football World Championship became the first sports event broadcast in HD format. Since March 2012 BNT started broadcasting in 16:9 format. On the 6th of February 2014 BNT started broadcasting its own HD channel – BNT HD.
