BNT HD

BNT HD is a Bulgarian state-owned television channel, operated by the Bulgarian National Television, airing exclusively in high-definition (HDTV). It was launched on February 6, 2014 with the start of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. Beforehand BNT use to air sports events as the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the London 2012 Olympics in HD on temporary HD channels which used to upscail the BNT 1 channel. In 2014 the national television decided to launch BNT HD as a fully scheduled channel. BNT HD airs free-to-air on the Bulgarian DVB-T platform.

Bulgarian National Television

Bulgarian National Television (Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, Bŭlgarska natsionalna televiziya) or BNT (БНТ) is the public broadcaster of Bulgaria. The company was founded in 1959 and began broadcasting on December 26 of the same year. It began broadcasting in color in 1970. BNT's headquarters are located in Sofia, Bulgaria, in a building located at the well-known address of 29 San Stefano Str.

BNT's first live broadcast was the parade on the occasion of the October Revolution anniversary. BNT is funded from government funds (around 60%) with the rest coming from television commercials. It broadcasts two television channels: the over-the-air BNT 1 and the international BNT World, a channel aiming to broadcast Bulgarian production only. Another channel, Efir 2, existed between 1974 and 2000, and was later substituted by the private bTV. The channel was relaunched on October 2011 as BNT 2

BNT operates four regional broadcasting centres, based in Blagoevgrad (Pirin programme), Varna (More programme), Plovdiv (Plovdiv programme) and Rousse (Sever programme). They were merged to create the BNT 2 channel in October 2011.

BNT 2

BNT 2 (BNT dvama) is a Bulgarian state-owned TV channel, operated by the Bulgarian National Television. It is the successor to the defunct second program of the national television - Efir 2. Launched on October 16, 2011 the channel replaced the five regional television centers of BNT - BNT Pirin, BNT More, BNT Sever, BNT Plovdiv and BNT Sofia by combining their programmes into one. The new channel broadcasts original programs, newscasts and sporting events. The program includes a "Regional programming bloc" with local opt-out broadcasts of the former regional television centres. It also broadcasts sport events like Formula One, Bulgarian National Volleyball league, National Basketball League (Bulgaria), UEFA Euro 2012, 2012 Olympics and the 2014 Olympics.

History

The second programme of the Bulgarian national television was founded in 1974 and discontinued transmission on May 31, 2000, being replaced by the private bTV the following day. Efir 2's most popular programme was its weekly magazine show "Vsyaka Nedelya" (English: Every Sunday) and for broadcasting the Italian Serie A football games (which in fact were part of the same Sunday show).

BNT 1

BNT 1 (БНТ 1, BNT edin) 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 (Българска телевизия), as it was the only channel available. When a second state-owned channel was started in 1974, it was renamed to First Programme (Първа програма), and later to "BT 1" (БТ 1) (with BT still referring to Bulgarian Television). In 1991, BT 1 and BT 2 were given separate visual designs and were renamed respectively to Channel 1 (Канал 1) and Efir 2 (Ефир 2). In this period, the channel was also referred to as BNT Channel 1 (Канал 1 на БНТ), 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 (e.g., the Plovdiv TV Channel will become BNT Plovdiv). The second BNT channel called BNT2 broadcasts the local programming of the former four regional TV centres, and broadcasts nationally. BNT1 airs sports like the UEFA Europa League along with bTV Action and RING. The channel, along with TV7 holds the rights to the Bulgarian Football Championship. BNT 1, along with its sister channel BNT 2 and the HDTV channel BNT HD holds the rights for the Euro and the Olympics.