VTM or Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (English: Flemish Television Company) is the main commercial television station in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking northern region of Belgium) and forms part of a network of channels owned by DPG Media (formerly Medialaan).
Early programming consisted of local versions of game shows like 'Rad Van Fortuin' (Wheel of Fortune) or 'Waagstuk!'
In 2005 there were talks about MEDIALAAN, VTM's former owner, buying the Flemish part of Canal Plus from Telenet but this fell through.
In 2004, VTM lost its market dominance back to the public broadcaster VRT's flagship channel één.
On 27 October 1987, nine publishers, each with 11.1% of the shares, founded Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij (VTM), of which Jan Merckx became chairman of the board of directors.
Thanks to a 1981 demonopolisation clause improving Belgian television advertising laws and the passing of a Flemish Cable Decree in 1988, VTM was granted an 18-year license to operate.
[1] Already from the beginning, VTM showed an empathic success: BRT(N) TV1's rating share, which in 1988 was of 57%, fell to 29% in 1990.
[1] For several years, VTM broadcast a kids' strand called TamTam, competing with VRT's Ketnet.
[4] Since 15 February 2015, children's programmes have been broadcast on VTM in the morning again, initially only on weekends, and since 3 July 2017 every day.
The basic concept was used for its first fifteen years on air with a few small modifications to the design, with the wordmark remaining intact.
[1] On 20 September 2024, VTM unveiled a new wordmark, with the letters becoming separate for the first time in sixteen years.