News item | 01-09-2023 | 07:56
The nine national commercial radio stations that obtained FM and DAB licenses through an auction last summer can actually start broadcasting on their new frequency(s) as of today. DPG Media, Business News Radio, Financial News Radio, Media house and Talpa Radio have until December 1, 2023 to actually use these frequencies for their broadcasts. The permits have a total term of twelve years (2023-2035).
Overview of national commercial radio
The parties themselves will announce under which channel names they will broadcast from 1 September via the nine packages. Below are the names that are now known. SLAM! and Sublime can be heard elsewhere from this date and can therefore no longer be heard on their original national FM frequencies.
1) Sky Radio, 101 FM and DAB+
2) Radio 10, including 103.0/103.2 FM and DAB+ (was: Radio Veronica)
3) Qmusic, 100.4 FM/100.7 FM and DAB+
4) BNR, including 91.3/100.1 FM and DAB+
5) Radio Veronica, including 91.1/95.2 FM and DAB+ (was: SLAM!)
6) Radio 538, 102 FM and DAB+
7) JOE, including 103.8/104.1 FM and DAB+ (was: Radio 10)
8) Radio4All, including 90.5/90.7 FM and DAB+ (was: Sublime)
9) 100% NL, including 104.4/104.6 FM and DAB+
Of these nine national packages, one is specifically intended for a commercial news channel (BNR) and one for a channel (100% NL) that mainly plays Dutch-language music. These two so-called clauses are sufficient for a sufficiently varied offer via the national packages. New channels such as DAB+, internet radio and streaming services meanwhile provide a varied range for a broad Dutch media landscape in terms of music genre or theme. The rest of the packages are therefore unconditional: radio stations are free to determine what they broadcast on these frequencies.
On Friday 7 July 2023, Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs and Climate) announced the results of the Dutch national radio auction. The nine available national packages have raised a total of €152.8 million. A legal entity could obtain a maximum of three packages for a period of twelve years at this auction. During that period there is a link in the packages between analogue (FM) and digital (DAB+) radio. Any mandatory phasing out of analogue radio (FM) will therefore only take place after 2035. This offers certainty to parties who have now won one or more packages.
Minister Micky Adriaansens (EZK): “With this successful auction we have ensured that there is and remains a sufficiently varied radio supply for the Dutch. That was necessary, because the last major distribution was in 2003. Since then, the market has been locked. In addition, the way we listen to music, entertainment or news has changed dramatically with the advent of digital radio, streaming services, podcasts and social media. By auctioning, we now have a future-proof and competitive radio market again. Parties have now been able to change licenses and there is also a newcomer.”