National Co-ordinator Alexander Kumanov
Bulgaria
BNT
Alexander Kumanov
tel:+359 2 8142566
Bulgarian National television - BNT
website: www.bnt.bg
Bulgarian National Television is the public broadcaster, funded through government funding and commercial revenue. BNT has four regional office centres in the towns of Blagoevgrad, Varna, Plovdiv and Rousse. BNT has 4 TV channels – BNT1, BNT2, BNT3 and BNT4.
Bulgarian National Television has remained a leader in terms of trust built in state institutions. According to sociologists a reported 75% of the Bulgarians approve of and trust this national media. The reason – BNT is a public operator of unquestionable value.
Ever since it was established in 1959 till date, having never stopped informing, enlightening and entertaining its audience, this television experienced together with the Bulgarian society a complicated, interesting and ambiguous evolution in time. In the course of thirty years it was the only TV broadcaster in Bulgaria, and following the democratic changes it began to operate in conditions of a market oriented economy, competing with almost 200 private TV operators. And despite the brisk advent of reality shows, which are currently the main magnet for TV audiences and high rating propeller for the private TV operators, BNT is ranked No 3 in terms of number of viewers and share of the market. In fact, it strengthened its position as a kind of guarantor and pledge for observing the principles and interests of civil society in the spirit of the best European practices.
BNT operates in compliance with the Law on Radio and Television, adopted by the Bulgarian Parliament in 1998. It is directly supervised by an independent regulatory body – the Council for Electronic Media, which elects its director general and board of directors, their mandate being three years. BNT gets its financing mainly from the state budget, and this issue remains one of the unresolved ones contradicting the television’s public character. The television has limited rights to broadcast commercials – not more than 15 minutes within 24 hours and not more than 5 minutes in the prime time.
BNT 1 is the first national public television in Bulgaria for general audience. It broadcasts news and current affairs, documentaries and entertainment programmes in line with its public service mission defined in the Radio and Television Act. BNT 1 broadcasts 24/7. The signal fully covers the territory of Bulgaria. The channel is a veritable up-to-date information network.
BNT 1 attains a unique asset – a Golden Fund of national memory for the past 64 years which can be viewed and heard. One of the urgent tasks before the media is its digitalization, which has already begun successfully.
BNT 2 is a channel focused on culture and education. It is also a platform that gets together the four regional TV centres of Plovdiv, Varna, Rousse and Blagoevgrad into one joint national network.
BNT 3 is the sports channel of the national public service media. It produces and airs original sports programmes and broadcasts international and national sports events as well.
BNT 4 is satellite TV channel intended mainly for Bulgarians living abroad.
BNT has an Internet portal https://bnt.bg/. There is also the news-dedicated website https://bntnews.bg/ and a free mobile app BNTNews. With its user-friendly interface, the BNT News app is a 24/7 source for breaking news, original stories, analysis, and live reporting from hotspots in Bulgaria and all around the world. The app is available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. It includes option the texts to be read by AI software for audience who prefer to listen to them.
During the last three years BNT stepped into the realm of podcast and videocast gradually introducing thematic series presented by prominent BNT journalists.
During the past several years BNT programs won prestigious awards at Prix CIRCOM Regional, Prix Danube Festival (Slovakia), the Golden Vityaz (Russia), Prix Nike (Portugal), Prix Jeunesse (Germany), Golden Albena (Bulgaria), Bar (Montenegro), Golden Cairo Film Festival (Egypt), Golden Rose (Switzerland), etc. BNT also regularly participates with own programs in numerous international festivals such as Japan Prize, Monte Carlo International TV Festival, Thessaloniki International Festival for TV Documentaries, International TV Festival for short-feature films in Oberheim (Germany), the International Documentary TV Festival in Krakow (Poland), the FIAT International Festival for archive materials, The Golden Prague International Festival, PRIX Italia, etc.
BNT is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union. It is also a member of the following international organizations: CIRCOM Regional, EGTA, IMZ, FIAT and BBLF.
Mr Emil Koshlukov, Director General
Mrs Margarita Nikolova, Director of Economic directorate
Mrs Mariela Dragolova, Director of News and Current Affairs
Mrs Valya Gizdarska, Director of Program Content
Mr Orlin Djelepov, Director of Commercial and Communications
Mr Alexander Kumanov, Head of International Communications