- Broadcasters with statutory functions in terms of news, sports, education and culture (NOS and NTR).
- Broadcasting associations that either represent a social or religious movement or represent a specific target group, such as young people or the elderly. These broadcasting associations are firmly rooted in Dutch society through their members and are partly the result of the segregated Dutch society which emerged in the first half of the last century. The existence of these member-based broadcasting associations makes the Dutch public broadcasting system unique in the world.
The roles and responsibilities of the broadcasters and the NPO umbrella organisation are legally defined. It is the broadcasters who create the programmes and who are responsible for their content. NPO coordinates the programming of all channels and online platforms and manages the distribution and broadcast of the programming. In addition to these core tasks, NPO provides a number of overarching activities, such as subtitling, managing rights contracts, purchasing international programmes, audience research and promotion and marketing for all NPO channels and platforms.