Ireland: RTE left singing the blues with €182,000 Eurovision price tag

INDEPENDENT.IE REPORTS
CASH-strapped RTE, faced with a €68m funding deficit, spent €182,000 on our disastrous 2009 Eurovision entry. The massive sum was splurged on selecting and sending an entourage to Russia during May for the 54th annual song contest. Despite being touted as a decent bet for glory, Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy failed to even make it to the final. The €182,630 bill covered the cost of selecting the band, entry fees, hotel bills, flights, entertainment and visas. The hotel bill for the 15 member delegation amounted to €24,710, flights €6,761, food and entertainment €9,540, visas €1,400 and airport transfers €978.

The information was provided to the Irish Independent under a Freedom of Information request. The bill was more than last year's tab for dispatching Dustin the Turkey, to Serbia, which cost €170,000. This year, the cost of staging a national competition on RTE's own 'Late Late Show' cost €83,879, while the Eurovision participation fee was more than €55,000. RTE chiefs have been implementing a range of cuts in a bid to plug the broadcaster's €68m budget deficit by the end of the year. An RTE spokesman defended the Eurovision bill and said the cash had provided seven hours of entertainment.

"All these programmes attracted substantial audiences. All costs in Moscow were carefully controlled," he said. "In all cases, the cheapest possible flights were booked. The hotel costs reflect the going rate in Moscow." Labour's Liz McManus said RTE needed to carefully gauge its spending as they were in "terrible difficulties". However, she pointed out that many people enjoy Eurovision and it would be difficult to take part in the competition without "considerable outlay".

Simon Coveney, Fine Gael's communications spokesman, said an "honest review" of the entire Eurovision process was needed, but added: "To be fair to RTE, they get lumbered with the costs. There would be a lot of disappointed people if RTE decided not to enter."

-

Eurovision 2010: NRK and EBU organisers meet

Last month, Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in which NRK has become the host broadcaster for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Key positions have been filled by the host broadcaster in the running of the event next year.

Jon Ola Sand (48), has been recently appointed as NRK's Executive Producer for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Hasse Lindmo (36) will be the Television Producer, while Stian Malme (39) the current NRK Head of Delgation for the Eurovision Song Contest is to become the Venue Manager. Evy Hauffen (56) was appointed Line Producer, she was involved in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo as Production Manager.

On Wednesday and Thursday last, the newly appointed production team met with organisers of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to be briefed about the task that's ahead. Discussions on various topics such as the technical aspects of the contest, the content of the three live shows, infrastructure, marketing, branding, new media, press facilities and communication took place.

Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest at the EBU, spoke to eurovision.tv and was impressed by NRK's approach, "They already filled their key positions, did in-depth research to what it takes to organise this enormous event and they are eager to lay the foundations of the production before summer holidays."

NRK is currently in the process of selecting the venue where the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will take place, which may be revealed in a couple of weeks.

In September, the EBU Reference Group (the governing body) for the Eurovision Song Contest will visit the preferred venue to officially approve it.

Source: ESC Today & eurovision.tv

-

Ireland: Low TV ratings for RTE

The Eurovision Semi Final 2 on Thursday 14th May featuring Ireland's entry Et Cetera performed by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy, was the most watched programme on RTE Two that week with over 438,000 viewers watching Ireland failing to qualify for the final. This is down from 691,000 who watched Dustin the Turkey with his entry last year in Belgrade.

The Semi Final 1 on Tuesday 12th May was watched by 208,000.

The figures released by RTE, show that the Eurovision Final on Saturday was watched by 438,000, a low fugure compared to other years, due to Ireland not competing that night, but up from 377,000 watching last year.

-

Evolution of the Eurovision Song Contest Logo 1956-2010

The following Link below is a roundup showing the evolution of the Eurovision Song Contest logo from 1956 (when the first contest was held) until now.

Some logo's (especially in the early days) are nothing more than simple text. Later on, the logo became more complex, while some find their beauty in simplicity.

I love the old days when things where simple!! look at the early 60's, nothing but text in different fonts.

See Logos.

-

United Kingdom: Jury and Public vote revealed

This is how the UK jury voted in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009:

UK JURY VOTE

12 Points - Germany
10 Points - Iceland
8 Points - Norway
7 Points - Malta
6 Points - Turkey
5 Points - Ukraine
4 Points - France
3 Points - Bosnia & Herzegovina
2 Points - Armenia
1 Point - Azerbaijan

And now here's how the UK public cast their votes by telephone:

UK PUBLIC TELEVOTE

12 Points - Turkey
10 Points - Greece
8 Points - Lithuania
7 Points - Norway
6 Points - Malta
5 Points - Iceland
4 Points - Azerbaijan
3 Points - Denmark
2 Points - Germany
1 Point - Portugal

COMBINED JURY AND TELEVOTE

18 Points - Turkey
15 Points - Norway*
15 Points - Iceland
14 Points - Germany
13 Points - Malta
10 Points - Greece
8 Points - Lithuania
5 Points - Azerbaijan*
5 Points - Ukraine
4 Points - France
3 Points - Denmark
3 Points - Bosnia & Herzegovina
2 Points - Armenia
1 Point - Portugal

*Where there were two countries on the same score, the act with the higher public phone vote is judged to have been the winner.

FINAL VOTES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Turkey - 12 Points
Norway - 10 Points
Iceland - 8 Points
Germany - 7 Points
Malta - 6 Points
Greece - 5 Points
Lithuania - 4 Points
Azerbaijan - 3 Points
Ukraine - 2 Points
France - 1 Point

-

Eurovision Dance Contest Baku 2010 Postponed

The European Broadcasting Union postponed the third Eurovision Dance Contest. The number of broadcasters that signed up for participation did not reach the desired level.

The European Broadcasting Union aim to organise a new format to make a more attractive and financially more sustainable production next year, planning to reach larger number of broadcasters. The Eurovision Dance Contest is planned to be organised in Azerbaijan in the autumn of 2010.

-

Eurovision Song Contest 2010: Its Oslo!!

No surprises about the Host city but the dates announced are a shocker!

The host city as well as the dates for the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest have now been confirmed by the EBU and NRK although the exact venue remains still to be decided.

As announced today by the EBU and host broadcaster NRK, the final dates for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will be Tuesday 25 May and Thursday 27 May for the semi finals, the Grand Final will take place on Saturday 29 May, 2010 in Oslo. The date for the final was earlier set to the 22nd May but this clashed on the same day with the Champions League Final which is being held on a Saturday for the first time next year. Greece (ERT) and Spain (TVE) were two broadcasters who officially complained about the date.

The last time the contest was held on the 29th May was when Israel (IBA Television) held the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest on that date.

The Venue for 2010 is still to be decided. According to NRK two options are being considered for the venue of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest: the Telenor Arena in Fornebu which can host up to 23,000 spectators and the Oslo Spektrum, the home of the MGP final, which is much smaller with a capacity of 9,000 spectators. But as the Eurovision gets bigger, it is highly likely that the Telenor Arena will be the host arena. 86% of people agree on he NRK website.

The Oslo Spektrum hosted the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest.

• Oslo Spektrum: Link
• Telenor Arena: Link

-