Media minister Eppo Bruins has finalised his plans to reform the Dutch public broadcasting system, which include reducing the number of broadcasting organisations from 11 to four or five.

In addition, the minister is scrapping the requirement that a broadcaster must have 100,000 members to qualify for a place on one of the three public television channels, the AD reported on Wednesday afternoon.

Bruins has not yet published the full details of his plans, but they have received initial cabinet approval and are expected to be signed off at Friday’s cabinet meeting, sources in The Hague told the newspaper.

Currently, broadcasters must demonstrate every five years that they have at least 100,000 members in order to retain their place in the public broadcasting system.

To ensure that “all voices are heard”, Bruins is planning new legislation requiring public broadcasters to “translate all the voices, needs and perspectives in society at large” into programming.

Eleven separate broadcasting organisations is too many, Bruins said, adding that merging them into four or five groups would reduce costs related to organisation, marketing and human resources.

The new government is planning to cut €156 million from the broadcasters’ budget, and the reorganisation alone will not achieve that target. Cuts to programming will therefore be “unavoidable”, the AD quoted the minister as saying.

The Dutch public broadcasting system, NPO, is funded partly by advertising and partly by the treasury. The amount of airtime each organisation receives depends on how many members it can attract.

There are currently 11 public broadcasting organisations under the NPO umbrella: AVROTROS, BNNVARA, EO, HUMAN, KRO-NCRV, MAX, ON!, PowNed, VPRO, WNL and ZWART. In addition, the news broadcaster NOS and several specialist and regional broadcasters contribute to the programming.

Together, they provide content for three national television channels, five radio stations and several digital platforms. Each broadcaster has a particular religious, political or social focus.

For example, ON!, which joined the public broadcasting system in 2021, is supported by the far-right PVV and FvD parties.

Commercial tv

The commercial sector – dominated by RTL Nederland and Talpa Network – is also planning to consolidate.

Dutch consumers authority ACM is currently assessing the possible takeover of RTL Nederland by Belgian media group DPG but has said it is concerned the takeover would make DPG too dominant.

In 2023, the ACM blocked a merger between RTL Nederland and Talpa, saying the combine would have too powerful a position on the commercial media landscape.

RTL Nederland’s brands include RTL 4, RTL5, RTL7, RTL8 and RTLz and streaming service Videoland. Talpa’s channels include SBS6, Veronica, Net5, radio 538 and Sky Radio.