NPO 2 (''NPO twee'', formerly Nederland 2 until 2014) is a Dutch television channel, sister channel of
NPO 1
NPO 1 (''NPO een'', formerly Nederland 1 until 2014) is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Severa ...
and
NPO 3. It was established on 1 October 1964 at 20:00, initially with a 2.5 hours 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. In September 1967,
colour broadcasts were introduced on Nederland 2.
After the launch of
Nederland 3 in 1988, Nederland 2 became the mainstay channel of the broadcasters
AVRO
AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broa ...
,
TROS,
VOO/Veronica and
VPRO
The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more ...
, earning it the nickname ''ATV''. On 30 September 1991, AVRO moved to Nederland 1 whereas
VARA
Vara or VARA may refer to:
Geography
*Vara (river), in Liguria, Italy
* Vara Parish, former municipality in Tartu County, Estonia
* Vara, Estonia, village in Peipsiääre Parish, Tartu County, Estonia
*Vara Municipality, municipality in western Sw ...
moved to this channel. Another restructuring was made on 28 September 1992 when
EO moved from Nederland 1 to Nederland 2 and in return, VARA and VPRO moved to Nederland 3. In 1995 VOO/Veronica split from the Netherlands Public Broadcasting to become a commercial channel.
On 16 September 2007 the
NPO channels Nederland 1, Nederland 2 and Nederland 3 switched completely to
anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen (also called Full height anamorphic or FHA) is a process by which a comparatively wide widescreen image is horizontally compressed to fit into a storage medium (photographic film or MPEG-2 standard-definition frame, for e ...
, before that time some of the programming was already broadcast in widescreen.
On 4 July 2009, all three channels began
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...
ing in
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scree ...
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 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...
, the
2008 Tour de France
The 2008 Tour de France was the 95th running of the race. The event took place from 5 to 27 July. Starting in the French city of Brest, the tour entered Italy on the 15th stage and returned to France during the 16th, heading for Paris, its reg ...
, and the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...
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 its programmes more recognizable. The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014.
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 9:10am and 4pm)
*
Nieuwsuur, an in-depth current affairs programme broadcast at 10pm every night
* Repeats of 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
BBC's
Songs of Praise
''Songs of Praise'' is a BBC Television religious programme that presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK.
The series was first broadcast in October 1961. On that occasion, the venue was the Ta ...
.
Logos and identities
File:Nederland 2 logo 1973.svg, 1973 to 1984
File:Nederland 2 1984-1988.png, 1984 to 1988 (with test card)
File:Nederland 2-TV2 logo 1990.svg, February to October 1990
File:Nederland 2-TV2 logo 1990-1994.svg, October 1990 to September 1994
File:Nederland 2-TV2 logo 1994.svg, September 1994 to 2000
File:Nederland 2 logo 2000.svg, 2000 to 2003
File:Nederland 2 logo 2003.svg, 2003 to 2006
File:Nederland 2 logo 2006.svg, 2006 to 2014
File:NL 2 HD Logo.svg, 2009 to 2014
File:NPO 2 logo 2014.svg, 2014–present
See also
*
Television networks in the Netherlands
References
External links
NPO 2 website
{{Television in the Netherlands
Television channels in the Netherlands
Television channels and stations established in 1964
Netherlands Public Broadcasting
Mass media in Hilversum