It was created on 28 April 1994, following a split-up of the responsibilities of the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS).

In the summer of 2005, Jan Peter Balkenende's second cabinet presented plans to renovate the broadcasting system, including the abolition of the NPS by 2007.

Given the dedicated and fairly sizeable audience for the NPS's output, the proposal was met with fierce resistance from many viewers and listeners.

The idea was that other broadcasters would take over the type of programming that the NPS had previously provided.

At the time, it was speculated that the real motive for the proposed abolition was that the governing parties (Christian Democrat and liberal-conservative) saw the foundation's output as being too left-wing.