Television in the Netherlands was officiallyintroduced in 1951. In theNetherlands, thetelevision market is divided between a number of commercial networks, such asRTL Nederland, and a system of public broadcasters sharing three channels,NPO 1,NPO 2, andNPO 3. Imported programmes (except those for children), as well as news interviews with responses in a foreign language, are almost always shown in their original language, withsubtitles.[1]
In the Netherlands, television can be watched analog or digital (the latter with the option ofHDTV orUHD). Over 2018, 89.2% of Dutch viewers received television digitally.[2] Analogue television is only available via some cable operators and some fiber to the home providers, since the Dutch government ended analogue reception via airwaves in 2006. Dutch largest cable companyZiggo began to phase out the analogue signal in 2018.[3][4] Watching digital television is possible through a variety of ways, the most common being:
KPN is the major operator of FTTH with its subsidiaries KPN Glasvezel,Glashart andReggefiber. Other companies areCaiway andDELTA.
Which television channels can be received is heavily dependent on the operator and in most cases also the channel package that is paid for. However, there is a small selection of channels that every operatormust carry. Since 2014, these are the following channels:[5]
TheNetherlands has three nationwide channels for publicly funded television (NPO). These channels can only make a fixed maximum amount of money from commercials. These commercials never interrupt broadcasts, and are only shown in between shows. The broadcasting organisations that use these channels are basically representative of the Dutch society. Every broadcasting company has members and the number of members gives them a status that is connected to the number of hours of broadcasting. Acceptance or refusal of entry is decided politically on the guidance of public opinion.
In 2005, there was a sharp political debate over government plans to cut funding to public broadcasters and to abolish statutory broadcasterNPS.
BVN, It shows the best of Dutch public television forDutch viewers abroad. It was also formerly shared withBelgium's publicly funded Flemish television channelVRT.
While there are many localised versions of international channels meant for the Dutch market, many television providers also broadcast 'domestic television' networks as part of the basic subscription package. Other 'domestic' channels may be received as part of extended packages. Many basic subscriptions include:
In the Netherlands customers can receivehigh-definition television channels by cable or satellite. Until 2018 there was no terrestrial HD service available. KPN started to switch its digital terrestrial television platform to theDVB-T2 HEVC standard in October 2018,[7] this transition completed on 9 July 2019.[8]
The first trials with high-definition television in the Netherlands began in 2006 with the broadcast of the2006 World Cup in HD. After the trial the larger cable companies continued a HD service with a small number of channels such asNational Geographic Channel HD,Discovery HD Showcase,History HD,Film1 HD andSport1 HD. The demand for HD was low because no Dutch network had made the move to HD. Broadcasting inwidescreen and the quality of thestandard-definitionPAL signal was good enough for most people.
Since the 2006 trials, none of the main Dutch networks made the move to HD. This changed in the summer of 2008 when from 1 June 2008 until 24 August 2008, theNetherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO) organisations made their primary channel,Nederland 1 temporary available in HD. This made it possible to broadcastEuro 2008, the2008 Tour de France, and the2008 Summer Olympics in HD and additionally allowed them to test their systems before the scheduled launch of their permanent HD service in early 2009. The NPO planned to launch their permanent HD service with HD versions of their three channelsNederland 1,Nederland 2, andNederland 3. Most of the programming in the early stages consisted of upscaled material from their SD channels as in time more programs became available in HD.[9]Technicolor Netherlands [nl], the company responsible for the technical realisation of the broadcasts of the NPOs television and radio channels, began the summer 2008 test broadcast of Nederland 1 HD in720p/50 as theEuropean Broadcasting Union (EBU) recommends. During the test period an additional1080i/25 version of the channel was made available to the cable companies because of quality complaints from viewers. In 2009 the NPO decided to adopt the 1080i/25 HD standard.[10]
The main commercial broadcasting organizations in the Netherlands theSBS Broadcasting Group (Net5,SBS6,Veronica) and the channels ofRTL Nederland followed in HD via cable and satellite, using the same HD standard as the NPO.
The first television channels in4KUHD were officially launched in the Netherlands in 2017. In April 2017, satellite providerCanalDigitaal added Insight TV 4K UHD in its channel line-up.[11] After more than a year of testing,KPN launched ultra-high-definition television on 1 July 2017, withXite 4K and Hispasat 4K TV.[12][13]Eurosport 4K launched in the Netherlands on 5 June 2018.[14]NPO 1 launched its first trials with ultra-high-definition television through KPN, CanalDigitaal and some minor networks on 14 June 2018, using theHLG standard.[15][16][17]Ziggo Sport is available inUHD from March 2021.[18]
SuperSport (1995 – 1997), replaced by Canal+ (1997 – 2006) followed bySport1 (1 February 2006 – 12 November 2015), rebranded byZiggo Sport Totaal (12 November 2015 – present)
TV10 (never launched due to license problems, 1989)
TV10 Gold (1 May 1995 – 31 January 1996), rebranded a couple of times afterwards. First by TV10 (1 February 1996 – 18 December 1998) followed by FOX (19 December 1998 - August 1999),Fox 8 (September 1999 – 30 April 2001),V8 (1 May 2001 – 19 September 2003) and finally byVeronica (20 September 2003 – present)
Veronica (1 September 1995 – 1 April 2001), rebranded byYorin (2 April 2001 – 11 August 2005), and again rebranded byRTL 7 (12 August 2005 – present)
VH1 (June 1999 - 2 August 2021), rebranded byMTV 00s (2 August 2021 - present)
VH1 Classic (30 November 2004 – 5 October 2020), rebranded byMTV 80s (5 October 2020 – present)
Viceland (1 March 2017 – 31 October 2019), rebranded by VICEtv (1 November 2019 – 24 August 2020)
To serve those who have another native language than Dutch, there are few television channels in the Netherlands broadcasting in one of the regional languages of The Netherlands. Those broadcasting in English usually target an international audience as well. Most of these channels broadcast through the internet only or have a very limited broadcasting area, with Omrop Fryslân as most notable exception. These channels are:
Omrop Fryslân (Frisian), public access regional broadcaster in the province of Friesland
Froeks.tv (Frisian), web-only channel for Friesland
