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Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση
Type	Broadcast radio and television
Country	Greece
Availability	National; international
Launch date	1938 (radio) 1965 (television)
Past names	EIR (Hellenic Radio Foundation) (1938-1970) EIRT (Hellenic Radio and Television Foundation) (1970-1987)
Website	http://www.ert.gr/

Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (Greek: Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση—Hellenic Radio [and] Television) is the Greek state-owned public radio and television broadcasting corporation. It is a member of EBU. Around 88% of ERT's funding comes from television licence fees [1].

Contents 1 History 2 Logos 2.1 Timeline 3 Services 3.1 Radio 3.2 Television 4 Programming 5 Channels 6 Reporters 7 See also 8 External links

ERT began broadcasting in 1938, initially limited to radio services from Athens. At that time the company was known as the EIR (Hellenic Radio Foundation). In the years of World War II, broadcasting stopped during the Nazi occupation of Greece. After World War II, broadcasting resumed and the radio services were expanded to three national radio services as well as international radio services for immigrant Greeks. EIR was one of 23 founding broadcasting organisations of the European Broadcasting Union in 1950.

Test television broadcasts began in 1965 and full TV service began in 1966. In 1970, the company was renamed EIRT (Hellenic Radio and Television Foundation). At that time there were only two TV services - ERT and a second one (ΥΕΝΕΔ/YENED) that was operated and controlled by the Greek Army. It was used as a propaganda medium by the military government of Greece until its fall in 1974. Quite remarkably, the station retained its name and military orientation until the early 1980s, when it was renamed to ERT2. On September 1, 1987, a third station was added - ERT3, based in Thessaloniki, with progammes focused on issues of Northern Greece.

During the first 20 years of TV services in Greece, ERT broadcasting was limited, starting at around 5pm to between midnight and 2am Today, the three channels of ERT are known as ET1, NET and ET3, after another renaming and reshuffle of programme content in 1997, they now broadcast around the clock every day. ET1 is an entertainment channel whereas NET is focused on news services. ET3 is still focused on Northern Greece issues, although it broadcasts nationwide.

ERT was a major national sponsor and the official broadcaster of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. It has been broadcasting the Olympic Games in Greece since 1968 when they broadcast the Mexico City Games. It also broadcasts IAAF games while it is shown on privately owned channels mainly in the United States. Today it broadcasts documentaries, some from the private sector, and a few animated shows. With the introduction of independent privately owned channels in Greece in the late 1980s, programme quality changed to a more commercial variety, in order to survive the fierce competition for ratings. This was a major shift in the network's principles that was dominated by wider variety, higher quality programmes including documentaries and World Cinema.

The current logo for ET1 is comprised of 23 dots (2 rows of 7 dots, 1 row of 5 dots and 1 row of 4 dots) with 'ET1' at the right, slightly equivalent to the original ET1 logo that was used from 1980s-1992. The #1 is smaller than ET. The current logo was introduced in autumn 2003. NET still retains their 1999 logo with a bold N coloured blue. The ET3 logo has "3" coloured in gold, alongside the letters ERT in blue. The ERT Sat logo features the word ERT with 'Sat' handwritten diagonally, with a curved lines on either side resembling a circle.

Current logo for ERT	Current logo for ET1	Current logo for NET	Current logo for ET3
ERT Sat logo (2006)	ERT World logo

1938 - The Hellenic Radio Institute, a predecessor of ERT, began broadcasting in the Greek language using radio.

1965 - Experimental TV broadcasts began.

1966 - Full TV service began under the name EIRT (Ethnikon Idryma Radiofonias Tileoraseos - Εθνικόν Ίδρυμα Ραδιοφωνίας Τηλεοράσεως - National Radio and Television Foundation). It was the only national channel for Greece until the late 20th century. The first sports broadcast was that of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

1968 - The first Olympic Games broadcast from Mexico City.

1970 - The Hellenic Armed Forces launched their own television channel under the name TED - ΤΕΔ (Tileorasis Enoplon Dynameon - Τηλεόρασις Ενόπλων Δυνάμεων - Armed Forces Television).

1972 - TED changed its name to YENED - ΥΕΝΕΔ (Ypiresia Enimeroseos Enoplon Dynameon - Υπηρεσία Ενημερώσεως Ενόπλων Δυνάμεων - Armed Forces Information Service)

1974 May: - EIRT changed its name to ERT (Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasis - Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόρασις - Hellenic Radio [and] Television). ERT broadcasts the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time.

1979 - The first colour broadcast using the French SECAM system .

1982 - YENED became a public, non-militarized broadcasting corporation under the name ERT-2. In the new logo, the number "2" was lined with three stripes.

1982 - ERT-2 changed its logo again. The corporate name is inside a television screen.

1987 - ERT and ERT-2 merged into one corporation under the name ERT, with five radio stations and two television channels (ET1 and ET2). Another channel launched (ET3) in Salonika.

Late 1988 - ET2 changed its logo again. The new one resembled the French Antenne 2 channel logo.

Mid 1990s: Switch of all ET stations to PAL colour system.

1994 ERT changed its logos again. The logo was coloured with a number on top. Orange for ET1, green for ET2, and pink for ET3.

1997 ET2 changes its name to NET, (Nea Elliniki Tileorasi - Νέα Ελληνική Τηλεόραση - New Hellenic Television), with a focus on news. The logo was also changed to blue and is in use to this day. ET1 and ET3 are the only channels that are numbered in order, left. ET1 logo is boxed orange with 1 in the middle.

Late 1990s and early 2000s - ERT launched a satellite channel, ERT Sat, which began broadcasting programmes from Greece to other satellite systems all over Earth.

2000 - NET became a general news and entertainment channel. ET1 changes its logo and becomes a channel for culture and education. The corporation's website, www.ert.gr was launched.

2001 February: ERT Sat launched on Dish Network, channel 603.

2004 August: ERT was a Grand Sponsor of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games September: ERA-5 and ERA Spor launched on Dish Network, channels 722 and 723.

2006 March: ERT launched three new channels (Cine+, Sport+, Prisma+) via its ERT Digital subsidiary, transmitting digitally terrestrial for first time in Greece. May: ERT hosted the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, because of Elena Paparizou's victory in the previous competition.

Late November 2006: ERT Sat was renamed ERT World and programming was overhauled to better suit the omogeneia, its target audience. Programming is split among 3 zones- Europe/Africa, North America & Asia/Australia with each having its own localized schedule.

ERT broadcasts radio programmes under the name of ERA (Elliniki Radiofonia, "Greek Radio"), which it has done since 1988. Under this name, ERT broadcasts four national radio services. The first one, ERA NET, is primarily a news-oriented station, with some current affairs and talk programming. ERA2 is primarily a music station, while ERA3 is more of a classical music/arts & culture station (with some drama thrown in). ERA Spor (ERA4) is a sports-oriented station, with regular news every hour and sports news every half-hour. During the late night hours all ERA programmes air a common night programme. For regional audiences, ERT also has 19 regional stations with relays. The regional station in Macedonia is the only one with two separate programme streams and a shortwave service. The interval signal for all ERA programmes are several opening bars of the folk song "Tsopanakos Imouna" (Once I Was A Shepherd Boy).

In the cities of Athens and Corinth, two additional programmes are aired. KOSMOS is primarily a world music station, on FM exclusively in Athens. FILIA is a multilingual station directed mostly towards immigrants, on FM and AM in both Athens and Corinth; the AM channel also airs KOSMOS in the late night hours.

ERT also broadcasts the Voice of Greece (ERA 5) for an international audience, using shortwave. Under the name of the ERA International Network, Voice of Greece and some ERA domestic programmes are rebroadcast on AM and FM stations throughout the globe. In addition, the ERT regional station in Macedonia can also be heard on shortwave. In September 2004, ERA Spor & ERA 5 were added to Dish Network's lineup of Greek channels, giving viewers in North America access to 2 of Greece's public radio stations.

Today there are three nation-wide channels in Greece, two (ET1 & NET) are in the Radiomegaro in Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, the main ERT headquarters. The building's size is 600m by 600m. There is a large television facility northeast of Athens at Mesogeion Avenue. The third channel, ET3, broadcasts from Thessaloniki and is a regional channel that caters to Northern Greece.

ERT also broadcasts an international channel, ERT World (formerly ERT Sat), which is only available to international audiences, outside of Greece. ERT World broadcasts as a subscription service or FTA to Europe, North America, Asia & Australia.

For a list of programs, see List of programs broadcast by ERT

• ET1 - broadcasting from Katehaki street in Athens, Greece
• NET - broadcast from Aghia Paraskevi in Athens, Greece
• ET3 - broadcasting from Thessaloniki, Greece
• Cine+ - digital terrestrial television accessible via ERT Digital's multiplex
• Sport+ - digital terrestrial television accessible via ERT Digital's multiplex
• Prisma+ - digital terrestrial television accessible via ERT Digital's multiplex
• ERT World - broadcasting from Aghia Paraskevi in Athens, mainly for international use.

• Lina Bethani
• Emma Papaemannouil
• Zois Kakkavas
• Anna Kandyla
• Alekos Markellou
• Zisis Moussis

• List of Greek television channels
• List of radio stations in Greece

• Official Site (Greek) (English)
• ET3 (Greek)
• Voice of Greece
• ERT Sat (Live Internet Feed)