NPO 1

History

Early years

In the Netherlands, the first television experiments took place in the 1930s. Dutch technology company Philips played an important role in these experiments. In 1951, public radio broadcasters AVRO, KRO, VARA and NCRV established the NTS, Nederlandse Televisie Stichting (Dutch Television Foundation). The launch of the regular service was approved on 18 August 1950, with a tentative 1 May 1951 launch date for the first tests, as well as a transmitter in Lopik and studios in Hilversum or Duivendrecht.

Creation of Nederland 1

From October 1960, NTS began broadcasting daily from 8:00 pm till 10:20 pm. Two years later the broadcasting hours were extended from 26 to 30 hours a week. On 1 October 1964, a second public television channel began broadcasting, Nederland 2 and the first public broadcasting channel was renamed into Nederland 1. In 1967, colour television broadcasts were introduced by using the PAL-system. Also in that same year advertising between programmes was introduced. In 1969, the Dutch government adopted the so-called open-system for the public broadcasting system, allowing more public broadcasting organisations; however, the government dictated that a potential new organisation must have 100,000 members or more to be allowed in. On 29 May 1969, the NTS and the Dutch Radio Union (NRU) merged into the NOS serving as an umbrella organisation for the public broadcasting organisations. Its main focus is on general news and sports broadcasts and also provides technical and administrative coordination.

On 2 January 1967, Nederland 1 increased its airtime slightly, to accommodate the arrival of Ster commercial breaks, shown on Mondays to Saturdays, but not on holidays. Up until then, the channel opened at 6:55pm on weekdays, but the start-up time had to be pushed ahead to 6:45pm. The schedule still opened with a five-minute programme for children followed by a news summary, which had to be increased to five minutes.

Launch of Nederland 3

In anticipation of the launch of new commercial channels broadcast by satellite, a third television network, Nederland 3 launched in April 1988. After the launch of Nederland 3 in 1988, Nederland 1 was the mainstay of the broadcasters KRO, NCRV, VARA and EO. On 30 September 1991, Nederland 1 introduced a new logo which depicts a yellow "1"-numeral that is placed inside a blue diamond, and at the same time, VARA was moved to Nederland 2, while AVRO moved to this channel, thus earning the nickname AKN (AVRO-KRO-NCRV). Another restructuring was made on 28 September 1992 when Nederland 1 abolished in-vision continuity, in favour for voiceover continuity and at the same time, religious and humanism broadcasters moved from Nederland 3 to Nederland 1, where they were given more airtime for their output. In return, EO moved to Nederland 2, before making their programming output available on all three channels on 24 August 2000 before the huge revamp from 4 September 2006.

Luxembourg-based RTL-Véronique began broadcasting in October 1989. In 1992, the government of the Netherlands legalised commercial television, and a number of new commercial channels were established resulting in a reduction in the market share of the public networks. In 2000, the channel was realigned; it continued to carry KRO, NCRV and AVRO programming but partitioned EO programming with Nederland 2; in general, its new audience would largely consist of religious conservatives.

Transition to (U)HD and the NPO

Until 2006, each public broadcasting organisation had been associated with just one channel, being either Nederland 1, Nederland 2 or Nederland 3. In the 2006/2007 season, the three channels got re-arranged. Nederland 1 became the flagship television channel aimed at a wide audience, Nederland 2 got more highbrow programming with news, current affairs, and documentaries, and Nederland 3 is oriented towards children, youth, and innovative television. The NOS is no longer the coordinating organisation as this function is taken over by the newly formed NPO.

On 16 September 2007, Nederland 1, Nederland 2, and Nederland 3 switched completely to anamorphic widescreen—before that time, only some of the programming was broadcast in widescreen. On 4 July 2009, all three channels began simulcasting in 1080i high-definition. Before the launch of the permanent HD service, a test version of the Nederland 1 HD channel was made available from 2 June 2008 until 24 August 2008 in order to broadcast Euro 2008, the 2008 Tour de France, the 2008 Summer Olympics, and The Simpsons in HD.

On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Nederland 1, 2, and 3 would be renamed as NPO 1, 2, and 3. The reason for this change is to make the channels and their programmes more recognizable. The rebranding was completed on 19 August 2014.

NPO 1 launched its first trials with ultra-high-definition television through KPN, CanalDigitaal and some minor networks on 14 June 2018, using the HLG standard.

KPN started to switch its digital terrestrial television platform to the DVB-T2 HEVC standard in October 2018; this transition was completed on 9 July 2019. The same applied to UEFA Euro 2024 where NPO 1 UHD could be received in 1920x1080 in 50 full frames per second in HDR, or 1080p50/HDR-HLG.

Programming

Currently, most of the biggest productions of Dutch public broadcasting television programs are shown on NPO 1, sometimes called the flagship of the NPO. Some notable programmes broadcast through the year are:

1 Translation added only when it clarifies the original title of the programme.

2 Special, extra long broadcasts are made during important events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Tour de France or the Olympic Games.

Logos and identities

File:Nederland 1 logo 1973.svg|1973 to 1984 File:Nederland 1 logo 1988.svg|4 April 1988 to 30 September 1991 File:Nederland 1 logo 1991.svg|30 September 1991 to 5 August 1996, replaced by a white-on-red variation File:Nederland 1 Logo 2000.png|4 September 2000 to 5 September 2003 File:Nederland 1 logo 2003.svg|5 September 2003 to 19 August 2014; similar to the current logo, but without the NPO logo File:NL 1 HD Logo.svg|4 July 2009 to 19 August 2014; Nederland 1 HD logo File:NPO 1 logo 2014.svg|Since 19 August 2014; similar to the 2003 logo, but with the NPO logo

References

References

1. "Jaarrapport 2018". Stichting Kijk Onderzoek.
2. [https://www.setar.aw/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Digital-Cable-Channel-Lineup_June_2024.pdf Channel Line-Up]
3. [https://flamingotv.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Flamingo-TV-Channel-Line-Up-Flyer-A4-6.pdf Channellist]
4. [https://discoverflow.co/curacao/tv/channel-lineup Cable TV Guide and Channel Lineup]
5. "Op 1 Mei 1951 beginnen televisieuitzendingen in ons land Zender komt in Lopik; studio's waarschijnlijk in Hilversum of Duivendrecht". [[NRC Handelsblad]].
6. Joris Stuurop. (5 January 2014). "Eerste NTS journaal op de Nederlandse televisie". IsGeschiedenis.nl.
7. "Nederland 2". BeeldEnGeluidWiki.nl/.
8. "NOS Startpagina". NOS.Startpagina.nl/.
9. "In verband met invoering tv-reclame op 2 januari". [[NRC Handelsblad]].
10. "Geschiedenis – NPO, 18 October 2015".
11. "Sterfhuis Hilversum". [[NRC Handelsblad]].
12. "Geschiedenis - NPO". NPO.
13. JK. (2009-06-16). "Nederlandse Publieke Omroep dicht bij start HDTV". [[SBS Broadcasting]].
14. Jarco Kriek & Jan Hein Visser. (12 March 2013). "NPO wil namen publieke TV- en radiozenders wijzigen". TotaalTV.nl.
15. Robert Briel. (14 July 2014). "Dutch pubcasters rename all radio and TV channels". BroadbandTVNews.com.
16. Jarco Kriek. (5 June 2018). "Canal Digitaal begint testuitzending NPO 1 UHD". TotaalTV.nl.
17. Jarco Kriek. (16 July 2018). "De eerste wankele UHD-stappen NPO zijn gezet". TotaalTV.nl.
18. Jarco Kriek. (16 June 2018). "NPO 1 UHD bij meer aanbieders". TotaalTV.nl.
19. Jarco Kriek and Jan-Hein Visser. (25 June 2018). "Omschakeling Digitenne DVB-T2 en HD begint op 1 oktober in het noorden". TotaalTV.nl.
20. Jarco Kriek. (8 July 2019). "Digitenne in heel Nederland in HD met DVB-T2". TotaalTV.nl.
21. Kriek, Jarco. (2024-07-16). "NPO 1 UHD tijdens EK voetbal een succes bij providers: ’40 keer zoveel kijkers’". [[DPG Media]].
22. The title ''Blik op de weg'' is a pun. "Blik" means "view" and also "tin", so this title means "(A) view on the road" as well as "Tin (i.e. vehicles) on the road"
23. (2015-11-05). "NPO 1 stopt met Sesamstraat". [[Algemeen Dagblad]].