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 VRT, is the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium.
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%.
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.
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.
NPO 2 is a Dutch television channel, sister channel of NPO 1 and NPO 3. It was established on 1 October 1964 at 20:00, initially with a 2.5 hours schedule until 22:30.
BVN, is a Dutch free-to-air television channel providing Dutch public-service television to viewers around the world.
Mass media in the Netherlands – television, radio, newspapers, magazines – are characterised by a tradition of politico-denominational segregation ("pillarisation") on the one hand and an increasing degree of commercialism on the other.
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.
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.
Television in Belgium was introduced in 1953 and began with one channel each in Dutch and French. The country is heavily cabled, with 93% of households watching television through cable as of 2003.
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 recognisable. 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 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.
Cartoon Network is a Dutch television channel which primarily airs animated programming in the Netherlands and Belgium. This version is available in the Dutch and English languages. Some providers offer the Dutch language only.
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.
Nederlandse Publieke Omroep or Dutch Foundation for Public Broadcasting is a Dutch public broadcasting organisation that administers public broadcasting services in the Netherlands. The NPO is also the owner of the radio-spectrum licence and public DVB-T and DAB+ frequencies.
Man bijt hond is a long-running Flemish TV programme. The show aired in Flanders and the Netherlands, with separate versions for each country. The Flemish version aired from 1997 to 2013, whilst the Netherlands version originally aired from 1999 to 2015, with a revival airing since 2019.
