NPO 2

Test transmissions started on 4 March 1964. These broadcasts were only received through the IJsselstein-Lopik transmitter. On 1 October 1964, the official broadcasts of Nederland 2 started and the first public broadcasting channel NTS was renamed into Nederland 1.^[4] In September 1967, colour broadcasts were introduced on Nederland 2.

After the launch of Nederland 3 in 1988, Nederland 2 became the mainstay channel of the broadcasters AVRO, TROS, VOO/Veronica and VPRO, earning it the nickname ATV. On 30 September 1991, AVRO moved to Nederland 1 whereas VARA moved to this channel. Another restructuring was made on 28 September 1992 when EO moved from Nederland 1 to Nederland 2 and in return, VARA and VPRO moved to Nederland 3. In 1995 VOO/Veronica split from the Netherlands Public Broadcasting to become a commercial channel; its final broadcast on 31 August was a documentary on its history.^[5]

Due to the success of RTL 4, by the early 90s, the channel had become a lossmaker; in November 1993, the channel announced the premiere of a soap opera to combat Goede tijden, slechte tijden, and contracted the same Dutch production company (JE Productions) to do it, with a tentative January 1994 launch date.^[6]

In 2000, TV2's name reverted to Nederland 2. Its new profile was the mass public, presenting large quantities of TROS, BNN and NOS programming and a small quantity of EO programming. The new line-up consisted of sports, events, entertainment and news of easy consumption for the wider audience.^[7]

On 16 September 2007 the NPO channels Nederland 1, Nederland 2, and Nederland 3 switched completely to anamorphic widescreen, before that time some of the programming was already broadcast in widescreen.

On 4 July 2009, all three channels began simulcasting in 1080i high-definition.^[8] Before the launch of the permanent HD service, a test version of the Nederland 1 HD channel was made available from 2 June 2008 until 24 August 2008 in order to broadcast Euro 2008, the 2008 Tour de France, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in HD.

On 12 March 2013, the NPO announced that Nederland 1, 2 and 3 will be renamed as NPO 1, 2 and 3. The reason for this change is to make the channels and their programmes more recognizable.^[9] The rebranding completed on 19 August 2014.^[10]

NPO 2 is aimed at viewers who wish for a more intelligent style of programming. Fixtures of the channel's schedule include:

• Repeats of the week's programmes from across the NPO network (shown on weekdays between 9:10 am and 4 pm)
• Nieuwsuur, an in-depth current affairs programme broadcast at 10 pm every night
• Repeats the day's current affairs programme overnight (such as Nieuwsuur)

Cultural programmes are generally broadcast during the day on Saturdays, and Sunday mornings are home to religious programmes, such as the BBC's Songs of Praise.

• 
  1973 to 1984
• 
  1984 to 1988 (with test card)
• 
  February to October 1990
• 
  October 1990 to September 1994
• 
  September 1994 to 2000
• 
  2000 to 2003
• 
  2003 to 2006
• 
  2006 to 2014
• 
  HD version, 2009 to 2014
• 
  2014–present

• Television networks in the Netherlands