The agreement received immediate criticism on two grounds from the opposition in the Flemish parliament: that the decision to launch a third channel was “irresponsible” in a time of cut-backs; and that the government agreed the charter after the Flemish parliament had risen for the summer. This week Open VLD media specialist Bart Tommelein submitted a request to the speaker of the parliament and the chairman of the media committee, calling for a recall of parliament to debate the issue. “Such a weighty dossier surely deserves a parliamentary debate,” he said. His view was echoed by Bart Caron of Groen! and Jurgen Verstrepen of Lijst Dedecker. As Flanders Today went to press, it was announced the media committee will sit this Wednesday, 20 July.

The possibility of a third public channel in Flanders has been a subject of discussion for some time within the VRT, but when media minister Ingrid Lieten prematurely announced its pending arrival earlier this year, she was publicly corrected by ministerpresident Kris Peeters, who stressed that the decision still had to be made. Last week, it became a reality.

The new channel will be a sort of hybrid of Ketnet, the channel for children up to 12 years which now operates in the daytime, and switches over to Canvas in the evening. In the future, the channel will continue to broadcast after 20.00, with programmes aimed at older children and young people aged 12 to 20, on two to four days a week.

“What the VRT in recent years has done with Ketnet for children, they now have to do for young people,” said Lieten. “The uncoupling of Ketnet and Canvas creates room for a new channel for children and young people. The VRT will provide a distinctive alternative for the young.”

On days when it is not broadcasting, the space in the schedule will be taken up by, among other things, programmes aimed at foreigners living and working in Flanders. The main VRT channel, Een, will remain as it is. Canvas will now share the second channel with Sporza, the sports division of the VRT, and will itself provide more cultural and news content.

“This agreement clearly shows where the value of the public broadcaster lies: the VRT is now more than ever able to reach and reflect Flemish society in all its diversity, to guarantee high quality, to be transparent, and to aim for cooperation,” said VRT director-general Sandra De Preter, announcing the agreement.

Among other features of the new agreement are:
• An increase in the funding of the VRT from €275 to €293.4 million a year, slightly more than provided for by indexation;
• VRT radio will exercise a quota of 25% of music by Flemish artists; this is more than the existing quota of 20%, but less than the VRT actually broadcasts in practice;
• On TV as a whole, the quota for Flemish productions rises to 65%, which includes sports coverage, news and current affairs as well as series and films;
• The VRT also agrees to take a minimum of 25% of its productions from outside producers;
• New goals for diversity, with a minimum of 5% of people of immigrant origin in on-screen roles, and a minimum of 1.5% of persons with a disability in the staff as a whole, while signing for those with hearing difficulties extended to main news programmes;
• A ceiling of €69.7 million from commercial activities such as merchandising and DVD sales, as well as €16 million from sponsoring;
• Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal, a short-wave and satellite station aimed at Flemish expats living abroad, will close down. The agreement describes the station as surplus to requirements in the internet age, when the VRT’s other stations can be listened to online.

Critics point to the lack of any real public demand for a third channel, as well as the difficulties which will arise from filling it with new youth-oriented programming, as well as programmes for other target groups like expats. The increases in the amount of money the VRT is allowed to earn for itself are also hard for some to accept.

In various messages posted to Twitter, Tommelein pointed out that the agreement made the public broadcaster “even more dominant and even more commercial.” The third channel was, he said, “a pure luxury in a time of cut-backs.”

Over at the competition, the Flemish Media Company (VMMa), which owns the commercial channels VTM and 2BE, the agreement was greeted as “bad news.” According to directorgeneral Peter Quaghebeur, whose company also broadcasts children’s channel vtmKzoom and youth station JimTV, “The VRT doesn’t need a third channel, they already have a market share of more than 40%. We have been protesting since the issue was first raised, but clearly the Flemish government does not take account of the complaints of commercial broadcasters.”