Dutch national broadcaster NOS temporarily went off air after a man armed with a gun entered the building and demanded airtime.

The RTL press agency said a building belonging to NOS in Hilversum was cleared on Thursday evening after the man walked into the building.

He was later arrested at the scene, the agency added.

NOS broadcast an onscreen message which read: "In connection with circumstances, no broadcast is available at this time."

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

NOS was off-air for around an hour. When it returned, it showed footage of the gunman, wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and carrying a pistol.

Speaking to a man off camera, he said: "We are hired in by intelligence services."

Reports claimed the man was aged 19 and claimed to be from a "hackers collective". He was led into an empty studio by a security guard, and after pacing the studio said: "This is taking too long."

Police then stormed into the studio, ordered the man to lie down and he gave up without a struggle.

In a statement, they said he demanded airtime and threatened that bombs would go off at several locations if his demand was not met.

Spokeswoman Christine Scholts said officers swept the building for explosives, but found nothing. She added: "We are currently investigating who this man is and what he wants."

"He took the security guard hostage and said he wanted airtime. If they didn't give it to him, he said there would be bombs in different places in the Netherlands that would explode if he didn't get time on TV."

The man dropped his weapon and surrendered as police entered the studio | Image: nos.nl

NOS said the man had a silencer on his pistol and threatened a security guard, who let him into the editorial offices. No shots were fired.

Prosecutor Johan Bac said the suspect was from the town of Pijnacker, near The Hague. He said the man was being held on suspicion of making a threat, weapons possession and taking a hostage.

"There is a major investigation underway to get clarity as quickly as possible about what happened here tonight."

After the incident, NOS director Jan de Jong said the broadcaster's headquarters had strengthened security after the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

The media park in Hilversum is home to many Dutch broadcasters and has been tightly guarded since Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot dead in a car park there in 2002.