The cabinet is to stop sponsoring tv programmes on both public and commercial broadcasters, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

Earlier this year there was an outcry when the paper revealed programmes got government cash because they they focused on European issues or because they showed immigrants and reinforced the government’s integration campaign.
For example, Shownieuws on commercial channel SBS6 got state money for a series of interviews about Dutch celebrities’ mixed marriages.
And a weather forecast on the same channel got government backing because it was broadcast from an ethnically-mixed tennis club.
In total, the government spend €11.8m subsidising tv programmes in 2006 and 2007.