Gali Atari's performance of Halleluja last night in Congratulations was not broadcast in Israel due to a break for commercials by IBA in that exact moment. This caused quite a commotion today in Israel.
After a massive promotion campaign for the Eurovision Song Contest's anniversary show, Congratulations, the Israeli broadcaster IBA was engaged in last week, one would think the live broadcast from Copenhagen will be the week's climax, but last night proved the opposite. A series of badly timed breaks for commercials culminated exactly when Gali Atari went on stage in Copenhagen's Forum to perform the 1979 Eurovision winner for Israel, Halleluja. At that moment IBA broke for commercials, a break which ended at the very last couple of seconds of Atari's act.
This incident caused an uproar in the Israeli public and media, blaming the IBA for being a national disgrace and raising again the argument that the IBA is no longer a competent broadcaster for this era. IBA's official reaction stated that the delay in the show's duration is to be blamed, since the commercial breaks were programmed and scheduled in advance. Nevertheless, IBA's director general has summoned a special meeting to investigate the matter, this Wednesday.
In a last attempt to compensate the viewers, Gali Atari's performance will be broadcast tonight on IBA's news. In addition, Congratulations will be broadcast once again on Tuesday at 11:00am (local time), without commercial breaks (Hopefully…).
Despite all that, Congratulations attracted a rating avargae of 21% marketshare (with a peak of 24%) which is quite respecable and an achievement for the IBA.
