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Public-service broadcasting in the Netherlands is provided jointly by a number of broadcasting organizations under the tutelage of NPO (Netherlands Public Broadcasting, Dutch: '''Nederlandse Publieke Omroep''') (NPO). ''NPO'' is the name used in the Netherlands to refer to the country's public-service broadcasting system as a whole; it is used, for instance, as the name of the joint Web portal coordinated by the NPO on behalf of all the broadcasting associations. NPO is, confusingly, a part of Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS). Unlike most other countries' public broadcasting organizations, which are either national corporations (such as the BBC and France Télévisions / Radio France ), federations of regional public-law bodies (for example, ARD , SRG SSR Idée Suisse ) or governmental and member-based institutions with their own channels and facilities (such as PBS ), those in the Netherlands are member-based broadcasting associations that share common facilities. This arrangement has its origins in the system developed in the Netherlands early in the 20th Century and known as '' Pillarisation ''. Under this system the different confessional and political streams of Dutch society (Catholics, Protestants, socialists, etc.) all had their own separate associations, newspapers, sports clubs, educational institutions, and also broadcasting organizations. The stated aim is to give a voice to each social group in the multicultural diversity that is Dutch society. The number of hours allocated to each broadcaster corresponds, roughly, to the number of members each organization is able to recruit (although this does not apply to NOS and NPS – see below). Since 2000 , the system has been financed out of general Tax ation rather than from Broadcast Receiver Licence fees. This is supplemented by a limited amount of on-air Advertising , which has been allowed since 1967 . The broadcasting organizations produce programmes for three Television Channels – Nederland 1 , Nederland 2 , Nederland 3 and Nederland 4 (digital) – and five national radio networks – Radio 1 , Radio 2 , 3FM , Radio 4 , and Radio 5 (for several years dubbed 747 AM and Radio 747). Publieke Omroep/NOS also maintains the formerly commercial radio station ConcertZender /Radio 6. CURRENT BROADCASTING ORGANIZATIONS In alphabetical order, the current membership-based public broadcasting organizations are:
Apart from these ten major broadcasters, (a small amount of) airtime is given to smaller organizations, which represent religions, have educational programs, or received airtime for other reasons. The amount of broadcasting time for the "religious" broadcasting organizations is assigned roughly proportional to the number of members they have.
And finally, there are two public special broadcasting organizations, which don't have any members.
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. 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. 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. NRU (Nederlandse Radio Unie) was one of 23 founding organisations of the European Broadcasting Union. Since September 2002, the Dutch membership of EBU is held by Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPB). CURRENT SITUATION Many people question if the current system is still applicable in this age of digital broadcasting. 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. Nearly all viewers in the Netherlands receive most of their TV via cable or satellite systems. Regional public TV exists in parallel to the system described above. Dutch commercial TV began in 1989, with the Luxembourg -based RTL 4 . In 1992, the Government Of The Netherlands legalised commercial TV, and many new commercial channels have become established since then. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
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