Hot Topic - Eurovision Song Contest
We love the Eurovision Song Contest. The production is big and it consistently draws more than one hundred million viewers. And every year there’s something a little different.
The Eurovision Song Contest may be a bit cheesy but it ain’t cheap. For public broadcasters hosting the ESC is an opportunity to step into an international spotlight and show what they can do with a high profile musical event. For those facing budget pressures, the ESC is a challenge, and increasingly so.
Reality TV – and certainly the talent contest variety – are proven popular programs with audiences worldwide. Broadcasters, originally attracted by comparatively low cost, push producers for bigger stunts. The genre has matured, something producers fight. Even in fair fights somebody gets bruised.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia are complicated. About half Ukraine’s population is, well, Ukrainian and reflexively supportive of Ukrainian language media. The rest of the country, predominantly eastern and southern Ukraine, is Russian speaking… and predisposed to watching TV channels from Russia. The broadcasting regulator wants Russian channels off the cable systems.
Eurovision Song Contest to Asia - Tickle File Week of September 15, 2008
...follow the money...
A nice tune performed by a Russian singer, written and produced by Americans, swept the Eurovision Song Contest voting. Commentators from countries that got few votes pulled no punches, calling the most watched single pan-European live television event doomed. The Contest’s eastward trajectory cannot be denied, nor can the phenomenon of the people’s vote.
Violent demonstrations in Serbia raised tensions among Eurovision Song Contest organizers. Eurovision and the EBU downplayed suggestions of moving the venue from Belgrade.
It’s the eve of the Eurovision Song Contest finals. The production will air in 42 countries. Viewers by the millions will tune in, cast their votes and tell us how they feel about more than music.
Hardly more than a month since a Finnish hard rock band called Lordi gave the Eurovision Song Contest an essential boost and it’s time to gather the shock troops and the funds. Finland and its public broadcaster YLE will host.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reacted swiftly and harshly to a suggestion that the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest just might be a great promotional device for the European Unions’ 50th anniversary.
Ukraine President Viktor Yushenko drops visa requirements for Eurovision Song Contest visitors and contestants. Ukraine rap artist Greenjolly drops a few words.
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