The Netherlands is a small, densely populated nation. It is not a powerful country, but it does exert influence far greater than its size would suggest, through trade, aid and cultural exchange. It has a very productive and innovative ‘cultural industry’ that is increasingly active in offering both specific content and formats on international markets. It has a ‘unique’ media landscape. Yet, like other countries, the Netherlands is currently facing the challenges of digitalisation and the many changes this implies (McQuail and Siune 1998).

Traditionally, the Netherlands has enjoyed being an international test market for many new ideas in the media. But over the last decade, progress and further innovations have been severely hampered by lengthy discussions on the future structure of just one domain in the broader media landscape, namely, public broadcasting via radio and television. In the last decade, public broadcasting has rapidly lost its dominant position in the field. The same holds true for the print sector (especially quality journals).

Dutch regulatory regimes reflected the clearly defined media pillars (radio, television, Web) and the different infrastructures (cable, ether, wireless LAN, Internet, etc.). They were often an effective hindrance to the innovative, multi-media strategies of major content-providers. The technical and economic forms of convergence that were furthered by digitalisation were not reflected at all in the regulations. Most of the regulations still reflect a focus on specific media, such as press, television and radio.

The complexities of the landscape are also mirrored by the fact that at least four government ministries have a say in different parts of media policy. The Netherlands Ministry of Culture, Education and Science1 has issued concessions to the public broadcasters and is preparing the public broadcasters for the digital age. However, it is the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs that issues the FM radio and TV frequencies for (commercial) broadcasters. Economic Affairs is also examining issues regarding convergence between media and telecommunication as well as the consequences of infrastructure, convergence and competition. Moreover, the same ministry is considering measures to protect media consumers and relevant security issues regarding the Internet. The Netherlands Ministry of the Interior covers constitutional aspects like freedom of speech.