The government is planning to overhaul the way public broadcasting in the Netherlands is funded, junior culture minister Sander Dekker said on Thursday.

At the moment, the public broadcasting system is funded by the state and by advertising. Television companies such as Vara and Tros have a specific religious, political or social slant and their airtime is allocated according to how many members they have.
Under the new system, funding will be allocated on the basis of programme quality, not membership numbers, Dekker says. ‘We will shift from a system of ‘every member counts’ to ‘every viewer counts’,’ Dekker said. ‘The quality of programmes will be paramount.’
In addition, funding will be withdrawn totally for religious broadcasters such as the Catholic RKK and Buddhist programme maker Bos.
The plans will be worked out in more detail over the coming months.
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