BRF

Belgischer Rundfunk is the public service broadcaster of Belgium’s German-speaking Community. With around 70 employees, it operates from headquarters in Eupen and studios in Brussels and St. Vith, providing three radio services, a weekly television magazine and digital news and audio-visual services. The first German-language broadcast for residents of Belgium’s eastern cantons went out from Brussels on 1 October 1945, and BRF marked its eightieth anniversary in 2025.

Media assets

Television: BRF Fernsehen, whose approximately 25-minute regional magazine Blickpunkt is broadcast on Fridays and repeated over the weekend

Radio: BRF1, BRF2 and BRF-DLF

Digital: brf.be, the BRF Mediathek, podcasts and social-media services, with BRF programming also available through RTBF Auvio

BRF1 combines information with pop and rock music, while BRF2 concentrates on Schlager, folk and popular music. BRF-DLF has been operated jointly with Deutschlandfunk since 2001 and serves German-speaking audiences in the Brussels region.

BRF began weekly television production in 1993 and introduced a daily television magazine in 1999. As part of its 2026 savings and digital-transition programme, Blickpunkt ceased daily linear transmission and now appears once weekly. Current video reports continue to be produced and published daily through brf.be, the BRF Mediathek, social media and Auvio.

Alongside international and Belgian national affairs, BRF concentrates on events in the German-speaking Community and matters affecting people in the border regions with Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It maintains editorial and programme cooperation with RTBF, VRT and broadcasters in neighbouring countries.

Ownership and governance

BRF is a public-law broadcasting institution of the German-speaking Community.

Its highest decision-making body is the Verwaltungsrat, whose members are elected by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. Each recognised parliamentary group is entitled to at least one voting member. The Board that first met on 5 November 2024 comprises eight voting members and one advisory member. Frédéric Heuze is its president.

The Verwaltungsrat establishes guidelines for finances, personnel and programming, supervises the programme structure and monitors compliance with BRF’s obligations. A government commissioner and a financial delegate attend its meetings.

Alain Kniebs is Director and heads the Eupen broadcasting centre and the Brussels and St. Vith studios. Stephan Pesch is Editor-in-Chief.

BRF’s public-service obligations are defined in a Geschäftsführungsvertrag, or management agreement, concluded with the Government of the German-speaking Community. The agreement requires the Verwaltungsrat’s approval, runs for the duration of a legislative period and is adopted by government decree.

The Medienrat is the media regulator for the German-speaking Community. It exercises regulatory oversight without directing BRF’s everyday editorial decisions.

Source of funding and budget

BRF is financed predominantly through the endowment of the German-speaking Community, supplemented by advertising and other commercial income.

BRF recorded revenue of EUR 7.852 million and expenditure of EUR 7.811 million in 2024. The result was a budgetary surplus of EUR 41,144, while the accounts recorded a loss of EUR 183,572 after depreciation and other accounting adjustments. Advertising revenue was approximately EUR 525,000.

The approved 2025 budget was EUR 7.955 million, including a capital endowment of EUR 200,000. The Community endowment was expected to supply 86 per cent of revenue, with advertising providing approximately 10 per cent and other income the balance.

The Community froze BRF’s 2026 endowment at its 2025 level. Rising personnel and material costs led the Verwaltungsrat to approve a savings plan comprising more than twenty measures in November 2025.

Planned staff departures will not be replaced, or will be replaced only partly. The entertainment programme Doheem is Karneval is no longer produced, and BRF reduced its live presence at the Eupen Musik Marathon. Broadcasting in the Brussels region has moved entirely to DAB+, following the closure of the 95.2 MHz FM frequency.

The most consequential change was the reduction of Blickpunkt from a daily to a weekly linear television programme from January 2026. BRF retained daily video production for digital services and redirected personnel resources toward those platforms.

Editorial independence

BRF’s mission statement commits the broadcaster to independent, neutral, balanced and current journalism. Content analyses conducted for State Media Monitor in May 2021 and March 2024 found its output balanced, diverse, critical and objective, with no evidence of state interference.

BRF’s published editorial principles require journalists to report independently, accurately and truthfully. They expressly reject external attempts to influence coverage and provide that neither management nor the Editor-in-Chief determines an authorised line of opinion. Commentary is distinguished from factual reporting, and journalists remain responsible for emphasis and analysis within the professional code.

BRF is a member of Belgium’s Conseil de déontologie journalistique, and its journalists are affiliated with the Belgian professional journalists’ association. These provide an additional layer of professional accountability outside the broadcaster’s political governance structure.

AI and digital policy

BRF adopted a formal Artificial Intelligence Charter at the end of 2023.

The charter governs the use of generative artificial intelligence and establishes five principles:

• responsible use of generative AI;
• human supervision and validation;
• transparency toward audiences;
• quality control and observance of journalistic principles; and
• security and data protection.

It states that BRF’s journalism must remain understandable and explainable, and retains human responsibility for AI-supported production.

From 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act also requires disclosure of deepfakes and certain AI-generated or manipulated material published to inform the public on matters of public interest. The latter obligation does not apply where material has undergone human editorial review and an identifiable person or organisation assumes editorial responsibility.

Classification rationale

BRF remains classified Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM).

It is a public-law institution with a parliamentary-elected governing board. The Verwaltungsrat’s eight voting members and one advisory member are elected by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community. It establishes guidelines for finances, personnel and programming, while BRF’s obligations are defined in a management agreement with the Community government. These arrangements establish public management but do not amount to demonstrated editorial control.

It is predominantly state-funded. The Community endowment supplied 86 per cent of the approved 2025 budget of EUR 7.955 million. The 2026 endowment was frozen at the same level, leading to a savings programme affecting staffing, entertainment, event coverage and linear television.

Its editorial independence is protected institutionally and observed in practice. BRF’s editorial principles reject external influence and prevent management or the Editor-in-Chief from imposing an authorised line of opinion. Its membership of the Conseil de déontologie journalistique provides external professional accountability, and content analyses conducted in 2021 and 2024 found no evidence of state interference.

September 2026