Outgoing State Secretary Fleur Gräper (Media, D66) plans not to grant a new five-year license to the NPO when the current one expires. Sources tell this to the ANP news agency RTL News. Instead, she will extend the current permit for two years, meaning it will expire in 2026. The Council of Ministers is expected to officially decide on the extension on Thursday.
The license means that the state allows the NPO to operate as a public broadcaster. Normally, the NPO presents a policy plan and the permit is extended by five years as standard. Gräper's decision gives the next cabinet the opportunity to quickly implement changes. The forming parties have been critical of the public broadcasting system for some time. For example, the VVD wants to save around 400 million euros and NSC wants to reduce the number of public channels to two. The PVV writes in its election manifesto that it wants to abolish public broadcasting completely. After the election results, the public broadcasters expressed their great concerns about the broadcasting policy of the largest parties.
A committee led by former State Secretary Pieter van Geel (CDA) recommended in October last year that the broadcasting system should be overhauled. It had to become more independent and efficient. For example, the number of broadcasters should be limited to six, with public broadcasters having to meet stricter conditions.
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