In the Netherlands, the national commercial FM frequencies will soon be auctioned. The fact that the licenses do not only go to music radios is particularly to be welcomed. Unlike in Flanders, a commercial news channel does get a place there. In addition, the legislator is raising the current minimum percentage of news that must be broadcast from 50 to 70%. This is evident from answers from Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate to parliamentary questions about the imminent auction.
State Secretary Uslu of Culture and Media, who is in charge of the clauses for the FM lots, will amend the Instruction for Use of Frequency Space for Commercial Radio Broadcasting (AGF) for this purpose. Initially, Uslu wanted to fix that percentage of news, which should be broadcast daily between 07:00 and 19:00, at half the airtime. But this caused a lot of criticism from BNR Nieuwsradio, the station that currently broadcasts on the news lot.
By fixing the percentage to at least 50%, there would still be a lot of room left for music on the lot. The political parties VVD, D66 and CDA also argued for a higher percentage so that the continued existence of a real commercial news channel is guaranteed.
Dutch speaking
The other political party GroenLinks also wanted a percentage of recent releases for the lots with Dutch-language music. This is currently the case for 100% NL, the current permit holder of the plot. The station itself also proposed this in order to continue to stimulate the Dutch-speaking music industry. But because the minimum percentage of Dutch music for this lot has already been increased from 30 to 50%, Uslu has waived this. (RadioWereld.nl)