Eurovision (network)

For other uses, see Eurovision (disambiguation).

Eurovision

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Branding	Eurovision
Headquarters	Geneva, Switzerland
Owner	European Broadcasting Union
Launch date	1954
Official website	eurovision.net

Eurovision (founded 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland) is part of the European Broadcasting Union, itself founded in 1950 as a system of international broadcasting cooperation and is the world’s largest television contribution network.

Eurovision was set up for the purpose of exchanging TV programmes and, subsequently, TV news footage (via the daily Eurovision news exchange - EVN). The first official Eurovision transmission took place on June 6, 1954. It showed the Narcissus Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. It has a radio counterpart in Euroradio.

Background

Eurovision is managed by the European Broadcasting Union’s Eurovision Operations Department and offers permanent coverage of Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, North Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as ad-hoc coverage of the African continent and the Pacific Rim.

Not confined only to Europe, Eurovision currently encompasses 75 television broadcasting organizations located in 56 countries of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Furthermore, there are 61 associated broadcasting organizations in Europe, Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania.

Eurovision is not affiliated with the European Union.

Events

Routine transmissions of sport and culture events amount to over 15,000 transmission hours per year.

High-profile Eurovision events include:

• Eurovision Song Contest
• Eurovision Young Musicians
• Eurovision Young Dancers
• Eurovision Dance Contest
• Junior Eurovision Song Contest
• Jeux Sans Frontières
• Eastertime papal blessing Urbi et Orbi
• Sanremo Music Festival
• Vienna New Year's Concert
• Palio in Siena
• Musikantenstadl
• Stadlshow
• Let the Peoples Sing
• Rose d'Or
• European Sports Championships

News and sport

Member broadcasting organisations also provide each other with news footage (over 30,000 separate news items per year) within the framework of the daily Eurovision News Exchanges (EVN). Eurovision also sponsors the annual broadcast news industry conference, News Xchange. Despite the similarity in name this has no direct connection with Eurovision News Exchanges.

Eurovision now offers free internet streaming of major sports events such as the London 2012 Olympics on its website, under the name Eurovision Sports.

Transmission ident

Eurovision television transmissions may be recognised by the Eurovision ident and the opening theme of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Te Deum" which appears before the start of the programme to indicate to viewers they are connected and watching via the Eurovision network. It usually appears at the end of the programming to indicate the end of Eurovision network transmission. The most famous and well known times for this to occur is before and after the Eurovision Song Contest. Although most contributed items, such as international relays of sports events, including the Olympics, are not thus credited and the general public is therefore mostly unaware of Eurovision's involvement.

External links

• Eurovision Website
• Eurovision Active Member List
• The Birth of Eurovision (in French)
• Eurovision Sports Live Streaming