Reference group works on future

by Sietse Bakker 100 views

This afternoon, the chairman of the Dutch broadcastes NOS and member of the Eurovision Reference group Ruurd Bierman, told esctoday.com about the decisions that are made concerning the Eurovision Song Contest. The Reference group had a meeting in Slovenia last week.

We asked Bierman if the logo for the contest has been approved already: “the logo has basically been approved, which means that there has to be made some small changes”.

As more and more broadcasters express their wish to participate in the contest, the EBU has been forced to consider how it should be developed in the future. One option discussed is to hold the contest over more days, though this is not favoured by the EBU and its member broadcasters. Regional preselections have also been discussed and certainly do remain an option, though it's uncertain as to whether broadcasters would be willing to broadcast them.

A more radical suggestion is to reduce the number of participants each year, so the entrance fees would be increased considerably for all broadcasters. Every broadcaster wishing to participate would also be obliged to provide the EBU with a bank guarantee against the costs of
hosting the contest the following year, in case the country wins. With LTV already suggesting they need approximately � 12 million to host the contest, This may discourage some broadcasters from participating, especially because sponsorship becomes more and more interesting.

The rules for the 2003 contest are set up by the Reference group as well. As expected, there are no big changes. The most important rule is that all broadcasters are forced to use the televoting system, unless the coverage of mobile phones in a country is less than 80 percent. This means that Russia and maybe Ukraine will not use televoting. According to OGAE Turkey, broadcaster TRT is talking with mobile phone companies to assure +80 percent coverage.

Neverless the Reference group was a little worried about the financing of the event by the Latvian government. “1,7 million Lats (~ �2,9 million) that LTV needs for organising the contest is only there as a guarantee letter”, the executive producer of the contest said. LTV needs a total of 7 million Lats (~�12 million) for buying the necessary technics and hosting the national final.

Finally, the Reference group has approved the plans for a children's song contest. The first edition will be held in November 2003 and there will be space for 14 participants. The plan will be worked out in January 2003.

In November there will be a meeting in Riga where the organisation of the 2003 contest will be evaluated. In January 2003 the Reference group will meet again to discuss further on about the future of the Eurovision Song Contest. In the meantime, Ruurd Bierman points out that the co-operation with the Latvian television goes very well.