Public Dutch TV platform changes into freemium business model

This weekend, a spokesman of the Dutch association of public broadcasters (‘NPO’) announced the state sponsored broadcasters will set up a pay wall for the popular TV on demand platform “Uitzending Gemist” (‘Catch up TV’). The NPO is investigating whether it is possible to charge customers for the online broadcasts of publicly financed television stations.

News and informational programs will stay available for free, but viewing movies and series might become a paid service. NPO indicates there are more costs involved in making movies and TV series available through the Uitzending Gemist-platform. They have to pay licensing fees to the producers of the movies and TV series. These charges for the use of copyright protected works seem like a fair compensation.  The question is now whether the public broadcasters can pass these costs onto their audience. NPO also announced, they will invest in a "central office", where copyrights for various digital platforms can be administered.

The NPO's introduction of a more commercial business plan is not so surprising, given the budgetary cuts in public broadcasting. Over the next four years, the Dutch government will reduce the budget for public broadcasting with a total of 200 million euro. Therefore, the NPO will reduce the number of websites and close down a number of thematic digital channels.  Despite the cuts, the NPO will continue to expand video on demand services. Their latest addition is an array of programs from local broadcasters.

Reference: Parool.nl