Omroep NTR



NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster, supplying television and radio programming of an informational, educational, and cultural nature to the national public broadcasting system, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO). NTR was created in 2010, following the merger of the Nederlandse Programma Stichting (NPS) and two educational broadcasters, Televisie Academie (Teleac) and the Radio Volksuniversiteit (RVU). For details of these predecessor organizations, see further below.

Public broadcasting organizations in the Netherlands (that is to say, in the Dutch context, listener and viewer associations) do not have their own stations but are allotted airtime on the three public television and eight public radio networks broadly in relation to the size of their respective memberships. NTR, however, as an independently established statutory body, is not a membership-based organization.

RVU (1930–2010)
RVU, the Radio Volksuniversiteit (People's University Radio), was the longest-lived educational broadcasting organization in the Netherlands. Established in 1930 by the Bond van Nederlandse Volksuniversiteiten (Federation of Dutch People's Universities), it was at first granted airtime by the AVRO and VARA broadcasting associations. A licence to operate independently was obtained on 14 June 1931 and RVU became a public broadcaster in its own right in 1932.

In January 1983 RVU made its first appearance on television, broadcasting a small number of programmes on the Nederland 2 public channel, moving to Nederland 3 in 1988.

Its mission was to present informative and educational programmes that would encourage listebers' and viewers' active participation in society.

Teleac and NOT (1963–2010)
An initiative to air educational programming on public television led to the creation of the Television Academy (Teleac) in 1963.

Meanwhile Nederlandse Onderwijs Televisie (NOT) (Netherlands Educational Television) began operations on the 27 June 1962, evolving from the Netherlands Education Film board in The Hague. Its purpose was to supply primary and secondary teachers with educational programming for use in classes. The programmes were made in co-operation with Teleac, RVU and the NOS but had no broadcasting licence of its own. That changed in 1988, when the new Media Act established NOT as an independent broadcaster. School programmes made by the NOS were thus transferred to the new organization, as were their employees, which moved from The Hague to Hilversum.

Early tentative steps to merge the educational broadcasters were made in 1996, with Teleac and NOT merging to form Teleac/NOT; both organizations having common and shared goals to produce educational programmes. It reverted to its original name Teleac in September 2009, using three brands for its output: Teleac (for adults), SchoolTV (4-18 yrs) and PeuterTV (babies and toddlers).

A further joint venture was expanded upon with both RVU and Teleac forming Educom in 2005.

NPS (1995–2010)
On 28 April 1994, a new Media Act confirmed that the existing broadcasting associations within the public framework would see their memberships to the system extended to a further ten years, in spite of ratings, and were to increase their co-operation with each other. The Act also reinforced the brand identity of the public channels over the associations.

A new programming quota was outlined in which associations were required to produce:


 * 20% cultural output (half must be art)
 * 30% education and information

The NOS, which had produced such programming in addition to its core news output were to split in half, and pass on those duties onto a newly created public broadcaster. The split was confirmed with the launch of the Nederlandse Programma Stichting (NPS) on 1 January 1995.

Proposed abolition
In mid-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.

Merger into NTR (2010–present)
On the 1 September 2010, the NPS, Teleac and RVU merged to form a single entity. The NTR name is composed of the first letter of the three formerly separate organizations. The idea behind the merger is one of money being more efficiently distributed amongst fewer broadcasting organizations. The new organization has no members, as per the Dutch public system norm as it is a statuory public service broadcaster and a legal entity inherited from its predecessors.

Its programming focus is now concentrated on news analysis, education, culture, children's education and ethnic minority output.

NTR's on-screen branding consists of their acronym in lower case ("ntr") followed by a colon punctuation mark (":").

Mission
Its mission, as stated from its Business Plan of 2010:

The NTR contributes to a democratic knowledge society by creating informational, cultural and educational programs for the entire audience with the following core values: independent, impartial, objective, reliable, respect for people and their values, and orientation towards a society of active, independent and curious citizens.

Programmes
Some examples of NTR programming:

Television

 * Andere Tijden - a history program (collaboration with VPRO)
 * College Tour - an interview show, featuring the most high-profile Dutch and international guests.
 * Het Klokhuis
 * Sesamstraat - The Dutch-language version of Sesame Street

Radio

 * Ekstra Weekend (2006–2013)