RTL 4 celebrates 25th anniversary

Today 25 years ago RTL Véronique carefully began with the first commercial television broadcast in the Netherlands. Some big names in the broadcasting world answered the question what 25 years of commercial television brought us. "Thanks to the commercials, there is at least a much richer offering for the people." says Jan de Jong, NOS director, "And more importantly, the public broadcaster has become better, more modern and more alert. Just as a broad public broadcast provides better and qualitative commercial television. They strengthen each other." "Thanks to commercial television the business community has much wider opportunities to bring their products to the attention of a large audience." says Fons van Westerloo, former CEO of RTL and SBS, "And the viewers are much more informed than in the time of a protected public system." "Not only has the number of TV programs increased, the quality of programs has become much better through our competitive TV market." says Shula Rijxman, NPO board member, "The 'publics' and "commercials" complement each other well and we set the bar high over and over again. With the viewer as the winner." "Commercial television has ensured that the viewer and the advertiser have choices." says Bert Habets, CEO of RTL Nederland, "Competition is always good in the end, because it allows for more choice and often more quality. Below you can watch a clip of the first RTL Nieuws broadcast in 1989.