The Dutch public broadcasting system is a group of organizations that are responsible for public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) foundation, which acts as its governing body, and a number of public broadcasters. The Dutch Media Act 2008 regulates how air time is divided and puts the administration of the public broadcasting system in the hands of the NPO Board of Directors.
Television in the Netherlands was officially introduced in 1951. In the Netherlands, the television market is divided between a number of commercial networks, such as RTL Nederland, and a system of public broadcasters sharing three channels, NPO 1, NPO 2, and NPO 3. Imported programmes, as well as news interviews with responses in a foreign language, are almost always shown in their original language, with subtitles.
The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting is one of the broadcasting organisations making up the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. It has a special statutory obligation to make news and sports programmes for the three Dutch public television channels and the Dutch public radio services. It is funded by the Dutch government.
NPO 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver a wide variety of programs for the channel, usually for larger audiences. In 2018, it was the most viewed channel in the Netherlands, reaching a market share of 22.0%.
NPO 3 is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands. It carries programmes provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations and is oriented towards children, youth and innovative television.
RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as Veronica on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, soccer, motorsport and talk shows about sports. During daytime business and financial news channel RTL Z was broadcasting on RTL 7 till RTL Nederland revamped RTL Z into a 24-hours channel on 7 September 2015.
SBS6 is a Dutch free-to-cable commercial TV channel and is a part of Talpa TV, formerly known as SBS Broadcasting B.V. and now owned by Talpa Network. Other channels of the group in the Netherlands are Net5, Veronica, and SBS9.
NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster, supplying television and radio programming of an informational, educational, and cultural nature to the national public broadcasting system, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO). NTR was created in 2010, following the merger of the Nederlandse Programma Stichting (NPS) and two educational broadcasters, Televisie Academie (Teleac) and the Radio Volksuniversiteit (RVU). For details of these predecessor organizations, see further below.
BVN, is a Dutch free-to-air television channel providing Dutch public-service television to viewers around the world.
NPO 3FM is a Dutch rhythmic CHR radio station controlled by public broadcaster NPO. The vast majority of the songs played on-air are rock, alternative, indie and pop, though dance and Mega Top 30 tracks may also air at times.
RTL 8 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched on 18 August 2007 replacing Tien, previously known as Talpa. RTL 8's main target audience consists of women. It broadcasts soap operas, talk shows, films and reruns of programmes from its sister RTL channels. In the mornings and late afternoons children's channel RTL Telekids is broadcasting on RTL 8. Officially RTL 8, along with all other Dutch RTL channels, is broadcasting under a Luxembourg television license. Therefore, the channel is also headquartered in Luxembourg. By doing this RTL can avoid more severe control by the Dutch media authorities, as Luxembourg does not have a strict authority that regulates its broadcasters. Dutch citizens need a subscription to a cable, satellite, IPTV, or DVB-T provider to view the channel. All providers include the channel in their base package.
Nederland 24 was the collective name for a number of specialty television channels from the Dutch public broadcasting system. It also broadcasts a sample channel of the same name featuring a mix of programming from the other thematic channels. A couple of these specialty channel are still available, but are now fully under the wings of the NPO.
NPO Zapp is the Dutch children's block from the NPO on NPO 3 that launched as Z@pp on 4 September 2005. Since September 2005, Zappelin has been the name of a block for young children. The @ in the name of the channel was removed on 10 September 2012. On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Zapp and Zappelin would be renamed as NPO Zapp and NPO Zappelin. The reason for this change is to make the channels and its programmes more recognizable. The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014. Together with NPO Zappelin it forms a channel called NPO Zappelin Xtra, available online and part of bonus packages.
The Netherlands now has three major forms of broadcast digital television. Terrestrial (DVB-T), Cable (DVB-C), and Satellite (DVB-S). In addition IPTV services are available. At the end of the first quarter of 2013 almost 84% of the households in the Netherlands had some form of digital television.
NPO Zappelin is a Dutch television program block for younger children that launched as Z@ppelin in September 2000. Before Z@ppelin, the programmes were scheduled on all three public channels. On 4 September 2005, Z@ppelin became a channel for children aged 2–6 years. The @ in the name of the channel was dropped on 10 September 2012. On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Zapp and Zappelin would be renamed as NPO Zapp and NPO Zappelin. The reason for this change is to make the channels and its programmes more recognizable. The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014. Together with NPO Zapp it broadcasts on NPO 3 during daytime. It is also part of the 24-hour children's channel NPO Zappelin Xtra.
NPO 3 Extra was a Dutch digital theme channel of Dutch public broadcaster BNNVARA, which has been broadcasting since 31 October 2006. The channel could be received via the Internet, as well as digital theme channel via a decoder to the TV. On 10 March 2014, the channel was renamed by NPO 101, before it was called 101 TV.
NPO 1 Extra is a television channel jointly operated by Dutch public broadcasters AVROTROS, BNNVARA, EO, KRO-NCRV and MAX. It was originally launched as HilversumBest on 1 December 2006. NPO 1 Extra presents highlights of more than sixty years of Dutch television history. The channel was founded by Han Peekel.
NPO Humor TV was a digital theme channel of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting dedicated to comedy, cabaret and satire. The channel started as Humor TV on 15 November 2006. On 10 March 2014, Humor TV 24 changed its name to NPO Humor TV. By cuts in public broadcasting NPO Humor TV would stop broadcasting on 1 July 2016.
NPO Zappelin Extra was a digital theme TV channel jointly operated by AVROTROS, EO, KRO-NCRV, NTR and VPRO. The TV channel launched as Zappelin 24 on 30 May 2009. It broadcasts replays and broadcasts from NPO Zapp and NPO Zappelin, via the cable and internet. The TV channel was part of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep. On 10 March 2014, Z@ppelin / Z@pp 24 changed its name into NPO Zapp Xtra.
Ziggo Holding B.V. is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers.
