An EBU delegation led by Mr. Jon Ola Sand met up with NTU, the Ukrainian national broadcaster in Kiev yesterday in order to discuss the requirements of hosting the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

The first working meeting between the representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) was held on 1 June in the Ukrainian capital city.
The EBU and NTU discussed the requirements and key factors for organizing the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine next year: the financial requirements, selection of the host city, the venue, security and other basic requirements.

Mr. Jon Ola Sand (Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest) and Mr. Jean Philippe de Tender attended the meeting on behalf of the EBU. Mr. Zurab Alasania (NTU CEO),  Alexander Harebin (Deputy CEO NTU), Ms. Victoria Romanova (Deputy Director General NTU), Anne Bull (Deputy Director of Financial Affairs NTU) and some more members from NTU attended the meeting too.

Documents and legal aspects

National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest host broadcaster and EBU will sign the 2017 ESC Hosting Agreement, a document defining all the major aspects and requirements of organizing the event.
Financing

The European Broadcasting Union outlined the range of hosting the competiton in the previous years; highlighting the costliest Eurovision being the 2009 ESC  in Moscow (Russia), and the most cost efficient ones being the 2010 ESC in Oslo (Norway) 2013 ESC in Malmö (Sweden) and the 2016 ESC in Stockholm (Sweden) in 2016.

Security

The European Broadcasting Union stressed the issue of security for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest participating countries including artists, members of delegations, journalists and fans, absolutely everyone who is tangent to the competition. The arena and all official locations that will host the Eurovision Song Contest are required to be safe.

The Supervisory Board of Eurovision-2017
A Supervisory Board for Eurovision 2017 will supervise all the preparations for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in compliance with all rules and requirements of the host country. The Supervisory Board will consist of a chairman chosen EBU Television Committee, the Executive Supervisor for the ESC on behalf of the EBU, the executive producers of the 2 previous Eurovision editions and 3 members elected by the broadcasters participating in the contest.

The Host City

The city, which will Eurovision 2016 will selected via a competition. NTU will open the subsmission period and publish the rules and regulations for hosting the competition in due course. The bidding cities will have to meet all the requirements set up by organzing board. These requirements will be formed in accordance with the 2017 Eurovision Rules.

The next meeting

The next meeting between the EBU, NTU and 2017 Eurovision Supervisory Board is scheduled to be held on 13-14 June in Geneva. More details and information on the forthcoming 2017 Eurovision Song Contest will be finalised and released hereafter.

The prelimary dates for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest have been set on 16, 18 and 20 May.