The government put nearly €12m into public and commercial television programmes in 2006 and 2007, the Volkskrant reported on Saturday.

Among the shows to benefit from government cash were weather forecast Piets Weerbericht (€12,500), Shownieuws (€90,000) and Passion for Fashion (€15,000).
The shows were part-funded either because they focused on European issues or because they showed immigrants and reinforced the government’s integration campaign, the paper said.
For example, Shownieuws on commercial channel SBS6 got state money for a series of interviews about Dutch celebrities’ mixed marriages.
Het Blok, a commercial programme in which couples renovate a property for sale, received €65,000 for featuring two sisters from Nigeria who ‘interacted with the other residents’.
And writer Geert Mak was paid €400,000 from the government’s Europa fund for a series on Europe.
Culture minister Ronald Plasterk is to explain the subsidies to MPs on Tuesday.