Press Release: State aid: Commission orders Dutch public service broadcaster NOS to pay back EUR76.3 million excess ad hoc funding

The European Commission on 22 June 2006 ordered the Dutch authorities to recover €76.3 million plus interest from NOS, the umbrella organisation of public broadcasters in the Netherlands, following an investigation under EC Treaty state aid rules into ad hoc payments from the Dutch State to the public broadcasters between 1994 and 2005. The investigation had shown that the payments had gone beyond the financial needs of broadcasters for public service purposes and had resulted in NOS building up financial reserves.