Publieke Omroep

Publieke Omroep is the Dutch broadcasting company that is responsible for the Dutch TV Channels Nederland 1, Nederland 2 & Nederland 3. Unlike other public broadcasters like the BBC, ARD, or France Télévisions, Publieke Omroep is run by member-based non-profit broadcasting organizations. The number of hours each broadcaster gets corresponds to the number of members in each organization (except NOS & NPS). This is said to make the organization give a voice to each member group in the multicultural diversity that is Dutch society, but actually the system ranges from decades ago when different Dutch groups (catholics, protestants, socialists, etcetera) had their own organisations, including broadcasting organisations. Since 2000, it is financed by advertisements rather than a television licence.

History

Public broadcasting in the Netherlands has been since the very beginning in the early 1920s split up into different companies. Because the Dutch society is very heterogeneous each group wanted to have its own broadcasting company. At first there was the AVRO, which discovered the medium radio and started the first broadcastings. Not much later, the protestants started their own company, NCRV, to broadcast religious programmes. The catholics quickly followed and started the KRO. The socialists, traditionally less religious, also created a broadcasting company, called VARA. Lastly, the progressive protestants also wanted to broadcast and started the VPRO. Each company was targeted at a specific group of the population, this process was called pillarisation (verzuiling in Dutch). Each group was faithful to its broadcasting company, for a protestant to listen to KRO programming was simply not done.

Related Topics:
Public broadcasting - Broadcasting - Radio - Pillarisation

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This closed system soon became too small for the newly invented medium television, and a solution had to be found to allow more companies to broadcast their programmes. In 1969, the first broadcasting company not bound to a certain religion or group, TROS, made its debut. Times had changed since the beginnings of radio, companies started making programmes for everyone, and not only for their target group. It was no longer a sin to listen to or watch programmes from other companies.

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Since the open system any company can become a broadcasting company and get radio and tv airtime. The only thing required is to request an official status from the government and to have enough members. Broadcast companies in the Netherlands still have to make sure every year they have enough members to keep their official status, and most of them sell tv-guides or other magazines and make every subscriber a member of their organization.

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Many people question if the current system is still applicable to this age of digital radio and digital television. There are plans to change the way broadcast companies are selected, and completely abolish the member-based system. However, currently the system is still the way it always has been, and a new system will probably only make its appearance in several years.

Related Topics:
Digital radio - Digital television

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