The Dutch public broadcasting system is a set of organizations that together take care of public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of a foundation called Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO), 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 Board of Directors of NPO.
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.
Eurosport is a pan-European television sports network and a subsidiary of Discovery. Eurosport owns a wide range of rights across many sports but generally does not bid for premium priced rights such as those to major football leagues. However, in 2015 it was awarded rights to broadcast the Olympic Games from 2018 for most of Europe and 2022 for the UK and France in a deal worth €1.3 billion. It transmits much of the same footage across many markets, using unseen commentators rather than on-screen presenters so that the same visual feed may be broadcast in multiple languages while holding down production costs.
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.
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. A wide range of broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver programs. A wide variety of programs is broadcast on 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 and carries programmes provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations. It is oriented towards children, youth and innovative television.
BVN, is a Dutch free-to-air television channel providing Dutch public-service television to viewers around the world.
Fox Sports is an Australian group of sports channels owned and operated by Foxtel. Its main competitors are ESPN and beIN Sports, both available as part of a Foxtel or Kayo Sports subscription.
The European Broadcasting Area (EBA) is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as such:
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.
Ziggo Sport Totaal is a Dutch premium television service operated by Ziggo and owned by VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Liberty Global and Vodafone. Ziggo Sport Totaal launched as Sport1 with its sister service Film1 on 1 February 2006 and replaced the Canal+ Netherlands channels. Film1 was sold to Sony Pictures Television on 21 July 2015, while Sport1 remained Liberty Global-owned. At launch the service consisted of two main channels, six extra channels and one HD simulcast of the first main channel. On 2 February 2009 the number of extra channels was reduced to four. The extra channels only broadcast when necessary to live broadcast multiple sport events at the same time. The service was rebranded to Ziggo Sport Totaal on 12 November 2015.
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.
This article refers to sports broadcasting contracts in the Netherlands. For a list of rights in other countries, see Sports television broadcast contracts.
NPO Nieuws is a 24-hour news channel operated by the NOS, the public broadcaster which supplies news and sports to all national public television and radio networks. NOS also provides programming for the political channel, NPO Politiek.
NPO Sport is a Dutch sports channel owned by the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) and operated by Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS). First launched on 19 July 2009, the channel carries sports programming. It is timesharing with NPO Politiek when the legislature is not in session.
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.
Eurosport 1 is a pan-European television sports network channel operated by Eurosport, a subsidiary of Discovery, Inc. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the Eurosport venture with TF1 in January 2014, taking a 51% share of the company, On 22 July 2015 Discovery agreed to acquire TF1's remaining 49% stake in the venture.
Nieuwsuur is a Dutch current affairs television program produced for the NPO by the government broadcasters NOS and NTR. It is broadcast daily between 9.30 pm and 10 pm on NPO 2. The programme pays particular attention to Dutch and European politics, as well as other international events; in addition, there is a sports news bulletin in each broadcast.
NOS Journaal is the umbrella name for the news broadcasts of the Dutch public broadcaster NOS on radio and television. The division of the NOS responsible for gathering and broadcasting the news is known as NOS Nieuws, and is based at the Media Park in Hilversum; the NOS also has fully equipped radio and television studios in The Hague, from which political programmes are often produced.
