RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

reftection , conducted in the fourth and final section of the рарег , on how local stations have been introduced in the country . We treat some of the problems which have been encountered on the basis of stages of development of alternative communication media . OVERVIEW Except for very brief periods , community electronic media have never received much political attention in the Netherlands . The brief moments of concern include the time the government hastily formulated regulations prohibiting use of cable nets for local origination programming in 1971, and initiation of a national experiment with community radio and television in six cities around the country in the mid-!9705. It was oniy when the media law came into effect in Јапиагу 1988 that community radio anđ television^) were recognized as independent media within the spectrum of all mass communication facllities . The installation of cable systems in the Netherlands began to take major strides forward in the 1970 sand was intended to provide better reception of the national broadcasting stations , reception of foreign stations , and removal of the 'f orest' of antennas on house rooftops . During a period of some 15 years nearly 80Х of the households in the country were connected to cable television networks (Brants and Jankowski, 1985; Olderaan and Jankowski, forthcoming) . This degree of penetration of cable television was matched in few other countries . During the early development little attention was given to other communication posSibilities of these networks , such as localiy produced and transmitteđ programming and interactive services . The national government did not seriously consiđer these possibilities , which meant policy development and a"legal framework lagged behind the technical possibilities and interest in experimentation. The first local origination television transmissions took place in 197 1 in three different cities . The national government initially reacted with prohibltive regulation , but later when it became clear what amount of interest there was for this kind of programming , provision was made to conduct a government-funded experiment with community radio and television . The experiment took place in six municipalities and lasted three years . Although stations could experiment wlth both cable radio and television , none of the stations senously engaged m