International Radio and Television Organisation

The International Radio and Television Organisation (official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision or OIRT (before 1960 International Broadcasting Organization (IBO), official name in French: Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion (OIR)) was an East European network of radio and television broadcasters with the primary purpose of establishing ties and securing an interchange of information between those various organizations responsible for broadcasting services, promoting the interests of broadcasting, seeking by international cooperation a solution to any matter relating to broadcasting, and studying and working out all measures having as their aim the development of broadcasting.

International Radio and Television Organisation
Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision
The OIRT logo
  Members at the date of dissolution
  Members who participated at various times before dissolution
  Associate members
Merged intoEuropean Broadcasting Union
Established28 June 1946 (1946-06-28)
Dissolved1 January 1993 (1993-01-01)
TypeUnion of broadcasting organisations
HeadquartersBrussels, Belgium (1946–1950)
Prague, Czechoslovakia (1950–1993)

History

Without British participation, 26 members founded the OIR on 28 June 1946. The next day, at the General Assembly of the International Broadcasting Union (IBU), an attempt was made to dissolve this body, but the motion failed to obtain the required majority. However, 18 of the 28 existing members left the IBU and become co-founders of the new OIR.[1]

In 1946, the newly created OIR installed itself in the IBU building in Brussels. Technical activity was taken up again under the authority of two directors, one delegated by the Soviet Union and the other by France. However, the political situation gradually degraded into the Cold War and this created an uneasy situation of distrust within the staff of the Technical Centre.[1]

In 1950 some members (mostly western European) left the organization to form the new European Broadcasting Union (EBU), among them Belgium, Egypt, France, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.[1]

Broadcasting organizations from the following countries remained members: Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland (also a member of EBU), East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Syria and the Soviet Union.

As a consequence, the OIR headquarters and its Technical Centre was relocated from Brussels to Prague in 1950.[2][3] Staff members from Belgium and other Western countries, some of whom had already been active before the war, stayed on in Brussels and the centre became the technical centre of the new EBU.

Unlike the EBU, the OIRT was not limited to European and Mediterranean countries and has been operating since its inception as a global organization. Members of the organization included countries aligned with the Eastern bloc, such as Cuba, Vietnam, the People's Republic of China and North Korea (although the latter's membership was temporarily inactive after their break with the USSR), as well as the allies of the USSR temporarily led by communist parties, such as Nicaragua and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, and the African and Middle Eastern states having been temporarily associated or supported by the socialist camp.

On January 1, 1993, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the OIRT merged with the European Broadcasting Union.[3][4]

Intervision

One of several logos used by the Intervision Network. This one comes from the Soviet Union.

The television network of OIRT was established in 1960 and was called Intervision[5] (Russian Интервидение, Bulgarian Интервизия, Polish Interwizja, Czech Intervize, Slovak Intervízia, Hungarian Intervízió, Romanian Interviziune, Finnish Intervisio).

Between 1977 and 1980 the OIRT organised four Intervision Song Contests in Sopot, Poland, in an attempt to imitate the Eurovision Song Contest.

Active members

Country Organism Abbreviation Date of joining Date of exit
AfghanistanRadio Television AfghanistanRTA19781992
AlbaniaRadio Televizioni ShqiptarRTSH19461961
AlgeriaRadiodiffusion télévision algérienneRTA19621970
BelgiumInstitut national de radiodiffusionINR19461950
Nationaal Instituut voor de Radio-omroepNIR19461950
BelarusBelaruskaja Tele-Radio CampanijaBTRC19911992
BulgariaBălgarsko Nationalno RadioBNR19461992
Bălgarska Nationalna TelevizijaBNT19591992
ChinaRadio PekingRP19521961
Beijing TelevisionBTV19581961
CubaInstituto Cubano de Radio y TelevisiónICRT19621992
East GermanyRundfunk der DDRDDR19511990
Deutscher FernsehfunkDFF19521990
EgyptERTU19461950
EstoniaEesti RaadioER19911992
Eesti TelevisioonETV19911992
FinlandYleisradio OyYle19461992
FranceRadiodiffusion française
Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française
RDF / RTF19461950
HungaryMagyar RádióHU19461992
Magyar TelevízióMTV19521992
ItalyRAI-Radiotelevisione ItalianaRAI19461950
LatviaLatvijas RadioLR19911992
Latvijas TelevīzijaLTV19911993
LebanonTélé LibanTL19461950
LithuaniaLietuvos Radijas ir TelevizijaLRT19911992
LuxembourgCompagnie luxembourgeoise de radiodiffusionCLR19461950
MoroccoSociété Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de TélévisionSNRT19461950
MoldovaTeleRadio-MoldovaTRM19911992
MonacoRadio Monte CarloRMC19461950
NicaraguaSistema Sandinista de TelevisiónSSTV19841990
NetherlandsNederlandse Radio UnieNRU19461950
North KoreaKorean Central Broadcasting CommitteeKCBC19531992
PolandPolskie RadioPR19461992
Telewizja PolskaTVP19521992
RomaniaSocietatea Română de RadiodifuziuneROR19461992
Televiziunea RomânăTVR19561992
RussiaRadio Dom Ostankino :
- Radio Mayak (MK)
- Radio Orpheus (OP)
- Voice of Russia (VOR)
RDO19911992
Kanal OstankinoC119911992
RossijskoeTeleradioRTR19911992
SyriaOrganisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe SyrienneORTAS19461992
USSRVsesoyuznoye radio19461991
Tsentral'noye televideniye SSSRTsT SSSR19461991
CzechoslovakiaČeskoslovenský rozhlasČSR19461992
Československá televizeČST19571992
TunisiaRadio TunisRT19461950
UkraineNatsionalna Radiokompanya UkraïnyNRU19911992
Natsionalna Telekompaniya UkraïnyNTU19911992
VietnamVoice of VietnamVOV19561992
Vietnam TelevisionVTV19761992
South YemenAden Radio19711990
Yemen TV19711990
YugoslaviaJugoslovenska Radio-TelevizijaJRT19461950

Associated members

Country Organism Abbreviation Date of joining Date of withdraw
West GermanyArbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik DeutschlandARD19881992
Zweites Deutsches FernsehenZDF19881992
MongoliaMongolian National BroadcasterMNB19671992

References

  1. "EBU 50th Anniversary" (PDF). Difussion EBU. Geneva: European Broadcasting Union. 2000. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  2. Lewis, David (January 20, 2012). "The Situation of Public Broadcasting in Europe" (PDF). Geneva: European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved July 24, 2017. The EBU was founded in 1950 and initially drew its membership largely from western Europe, while a rival sister organization based in Prague, the OIRT, served the state broadcasters under Soviet domination the other side of the Iron Curtain.
  3. Central and Eastern Europe: Audiovisual landscape and copyright legislation. Audiovisual Eureka and European Audiovisual Observatory. 1994. ISBN 978-9-0621-5459-3. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  4. "50 years of Eurovision" (PDF). EBU Dossiers. Geneva: European Broadcasting Union. January 2004. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  5. Paulu, Burton (1967). "Programs: information". Radio and Television Broadcasting on the European Continent. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 141. ISBN 9780816660469. OCLC 321366. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
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