NPO 2

NPO 2 (NPO twee, formerly Nederland 2 Dutch pronunciation: [ˌneːdərlɑnt ˈtʋeː] until 2014) is a Dutch television channel, the sister channel of NPO 1 and NPO 3. It was established on 1 October 1964 at 20:00, initially with a 2.5-hour schedule until 22:30.

NPO 2 tends to broadcast arts, culture, politics, news, current affairs, documentaries and religious programmes. In the mornings, NPO 2 simulcasts NPO 1's news bulletins with sign language.

History

Test transmissions started on 4 March 1964. These broadcasts were only received through the IJsselstein-Lopik transmitter. On 1 October 1964, the official broadcasts of Nederland 2 started and the first public broadcasting channel NTS was renamed into Nederland 1.^[1] In September 1967, colour broadcasts were introduced on Nederland 2.

After the launch of

On 4 July 2009, all three channels began simulcasting in 1080i high-definition.^[2] 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, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in HD.

On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Nederland 1, 2 and 3 will be renamed as NPO 1, 2 and 3. The reason for this change is to make the channels and their programmes more recognizable.^[3] The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014.^[4]

Programming

NPO 2 is aimed at viewers who wish for a more intelligent style of programming. Fixtures of the channel's schedule include:

• Repeats of the week's programmes from across the NPO network (shown on weekdays between 9:10 am and 4 pm)
• Nieuwsuur, an in-depth current affairs programme broadcast at 10 pm every night
• Repeats the day's current affairs programme overnight (such as Nieuwsuur)

Cultural programmes are generally broadcast during the day on Saturdays, and Sunday mornings are home to religious programmes, such as the

• 
  1973 to 1984
• 
  1984 to 1988 (with test card)
• 
  February to October 1990
• 
  October 1990 to September 1994
• 
  September 1994 to 2000
• 
  2000 to 2003
• 
  2003 to 2006
• 
  2006 to 2014
• 
  2009 to 2014
• 
  2014–present

See also

• Television networks in the Netherlands

References