Nederlandse Programma Stichting

Netherlands Programming Foundation,

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

NPS (Nederlandse Programma Stichting) (English: Dutch Programme

Foundation) was a Dutch government-funded radio and TV broadcasting
foundation. In the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system of the Netherlands,
broadcasters in the Dutch context, listener and viewer associations do not
have their own stations but are allotted time on the three public television and
eight public radio networks broadly in relation to the size of their respective
memberships. The NPS, however, does not have any members. It was created in
1994, following a split-up of the responsibilities of the Nederlandse Omroep
Stichting (NOS). The NPS took over the NOS's culture, information, minorities
and youth programming, allowing the NOS to concentrate on its role of
providing impartial news coverage. On September 1, 2010, the NPS merged
with Teleac and RVU up NTR.

NPS logo used from 1994 to September 3, 2008.

Proposed abolition[edit]
In the summer of 2005, Jan Peter Balkenende's second cabinet presented plans
to renovate the broadcasting system, including abolition of the NPS by 2007.
The proposal was met with fierce resistance from many viewers and listeners,
given the dedicated and fairly sizeable audience for the NPS's output. The idea
was that other broadcasters would take over the type of programming that the
NPS had previously provided.
There was little confidence among viewers, however, that this would actually
happen. It was speculated at the time that the real motive for the proposed
abolition was that the governing parties (Christian Democrat and liberal
conservative) saw the foundation's output as being too left-wing. The plans were
in the end withdrawn following the elections of November 2006.
The Netherlands (Holland) - TV, Radio
Public service broadcasting in the Netherlands originated in a system whereby
the government subsidized the establishment of broadcasting stations by
religious and political groups. Although there is little direct funding of these
stations now, the public broadcasting stations are still dominated by various
non-profit broadcasting organisations, include TROS (general programming),
VARA (Social Democratic), AVRO (general programming), NCRV
(Protestant) and EO (Dutch Reformed), KRO (Catholic) and VPRO (social
commentary) which are allocated broadcasting time in proportion to their
numbers of members by the public broadcasting body, Nederlandse Omroep
Stichting (NOS). Apart from EO, which mainly broadcasts Christian programs,
most of these organisations have diversified from their original focus and
transmit a variety of entertainment and news programmes. The public
broadcasting stations are largely funded by taxes and commercials, although
advertising is strictly regulated and only allowed in specified timeslots between
programmes.

There are three national public service TV channels: Nederland 1, which

transmits a variety of entertainment, sports and news programmes, Nederland 2
which mainly shows programmes on culture, arts and politics, and Nederland 3,
a progressive station which is targeted at younger people. Various digital
channels being established by the public broadcasters are now being transmitted
under the title of Nederland 4. In addition to these national channels, there are
several government-funded provincial and regional TV channels.

Commercial broadcasting has been allowed in the Netherlands since the late
1980s, and there are now a number of national commercial channels mainly
owned by two companies and showing both news and entertainment
programmes: RTL and SBS. Various international commercial companies also
broadcast within the Netherlands via cable and satellite services, showing local
versions of channels such as Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Eurosport, MTV,
Nickelodeon, and the Discovery Channel. Most TV programmes are shown
undubbed in their original languages in the Netherlands, with Dutch sub-titles
used.

There are a dozen or so national radio stations in the Netherlands transmitting

news, music and chat programmes, which include five national public service
radio channels (Radio 1, Radio 2, 3FM, Radio 4, Radio 5). Popular commercial
stations include Noordzee FM, Radio 538 and Sky Radio. There are also many
provincial and regional radio stations, as well as stations transmitting from
surrounding countries.
The Netherlands has a media classification scheme (Kijkwijker), operated by
the Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audio-visual Media
(NICAM). This uses graphical symbols to indicate whether TV programmes or
cinema movies includes, for example, violence, swearing, sexual images or
discriminatory content, and classifies films and TV programmes in terms of the
minimum age for viewing, 12, 16 or below. The age classifications must be
observed by cinemas in terms of their admissions policy and by companies
selling or renting videos.

Useful links:

http://www.nos.nl
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/
http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/

Cable and Satellite TV

Cable TV is very popular in the Netherlands, with an estimated 97% of

households subscribing to a cable TV service. Cable is available in all but the
most remote areas of the country, and there are around 35 channels currently
available, with the specific selection varying by region. These channels include
many transmitted from other European countries, as well as international
commercial stations. The increasing use of fibre-optic networks is creating
potential for massive expansion in terms of numbers of channels, as well as
provision of additional services such as interactive TV, high-speed internet and
cable-based telephony services.

The Cable TV market is dominated by a few large companies: UPC Nederland,

Essent Kabelcom, NV Casema and Multikabel. These companies offer
combined TV, internet and telephony packages, and there is increasing
standardisation and sharing of networks, so that use of cable services is
interchangeable between different providers. Despite the domination of the
market by a few key players, the Cable TV market is heavily regulated in the
Netherlands, providing a high level of protection for consumers.

For people who require an even wider selection of channels or who dont have
access to Cable TV, Satellite TV is also available. The Canal+ digital satellite
package, used with a decoder, includes all the public broadcasting and national
commercial TV stations as a basic package, with optional extras including
international stations such as Discovery and Eurosport.

A recent development in the Netherlands is a wireless digitenne (digitenna)

service, developed by a consortium of public and commercial broadcasters,
which uses a small antenna and DVB-T digital decoder to gain access to 26 TV
digital channels and 19 radio channels. It is claimed that sound and picture
quality is better than that of Cable or Satellite TV, but there is little evidence of
any widespread take-up of this technology.

Useful links:

http://www.upc.nl/
http://www.corp.home.nl/
http://www.casema.nl/pagina/thuis
http://www.multikabel.nl/
http://www.alleenopeen.tv/