Everything about The European Broadcasting Union totally explained
The
European Broadcasting Union (
EBU;, and unrelated to the
European Union) was formed on
12 February 1950 by 23 broadcasting organisations from
Europe and the
Mediterranean at a conference in the coastal resort of
Torquay in
Devon,
England. In
1993, the
International Radio and Television Organisation (
OIRT), an equivalent organisation of broadcasters from Central and Eastern Europe, was merged with the EBU.
As of
July 6,
2007, the EBU has 75 active members from 56 countries, and 43 associate members from a further 25. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned
public service broadcasters or privately owned stations with public missions. Full active Members are based in countries from
Algeria to the Vatican State, including almost all European countries. Associate members aren't limited to those from European countries and the Mediterranean but include broadcasters from
Canada,
Japan,
Mexico,
India and
Hong Kong, as well as many others. Associate Members from the
United States include
ABC,
CBS,
NBC, the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and
Time Warner.
Active members are those whose states fall within the
European Broadcasting Area, or otherwise those who are members of the
Council of Europe.
The EBU's highest profile production is the
Eurovision Song Contest organised by its
Eurovision Network. The ability of any country from which there are full members of the EBU to enter this contest leads both to the ever growing number of entries, and the counter-intuitive inclusion of countries, such as
Morocco and
Israel, which aren't geographically or politically part of
Europe. The Eurovision Network also organises the
Eurovision Young Dancers competition, the
Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and other competitions for young musicians and screenwriters, which are modelled along similar lines.
The countries in the EBU have also often worked together to create documentaries and (animated) children's programming. The first such co-production was the animated series
The Animals of Farthing Wood from
1993 based on the books of the same title by
Colin Dann. The second animated collaboration was
Noah's Island from
1997 and more recently,
Pitt and Kantrop. Another important EBU program is
Jeux sans frontières.
Also, most EBU broadcasters have a group deal to carry the
Olympics and
FIFA World Cup (particularly, the games of their country and the Final).
Another annually recurring event is broadcast across Europe through the EBU is the
Vienna New Year's Concert.
The theme music played before EBU broadcasts is
Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Prelude to
Te Deum. It is well known to Europeans as it's played before and after the
Eurovision Song Contest and other important events (click
(External Link
) to listen).
EBU Technical activities
The objective of the
EBU’s technical activities is simply to assist EBU Members (see below) in this period of unprecedented technological changes. This includes provision of technical information to Members via conferences and workshops, as well as in written form (such as the
EBU Technical Review).
The EBU also encourages active collaboration between its Members on the basis that they can freely share their knowledge and experience, thus achieving considerably more than individual Members could achieve by themselves. Much of this collaboration is achieved through Project Groups which study specific technical issues of common interest: for example, EBU Members have long been preparing for the revision of the
1961 Stockholm Plan.
The EBU places great emphasis on the use of open standards. Widespread use of open standards (such as
MPEG-2,
DAB,
DVB, etc.) ensures interoperability between products from different vendors, as well as facilitating the exchange of programme material between EBU Members and promoting "horizontal markets" for the benefit of all consumers.
EBU Members and the EBU Technical Department have long played an important role in the development of many systems used in radio and television broadcasting, such as:
- The AES/EBU digital audio interface;
- Serial and parallel interfaces for digital video (ITU-R Recommendations 601 and 656);
- RDS - the Radio Data System used on FM broadcasting.
The EBU has also actively encouraged the development and implementation of:
Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) through Eureka Project 147 and the WorldDAB Forum;
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) through the DVB Project and DigiTAG;
Digital radio in the bands currently used for AM broadcasting through DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale);
Standardisation of PVR systems through the TV-Anytime Forum.
Development of other content distribution networks on the internet through P2PTV; EBU Project Group D/P2P, from November 2007 to April 2008, with a trial of selected member channels, thanks to Octoshape's distribution platform. (External Link). The EBU is also part of the European P2P-Next project.
Links to:
EBU Technical homepage
EBU Technical Review
Members
European members
Non-European members
Potential active EBU members
: Currently Liechtenstein has no national television station, but if they form one, that'll be eligible to join the EBU (this technicality had affected them once before when they weren't allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969).
: The second commercial channel of Morocco 2M TV have asked for membership to the EBU. It is still unknown if Morocco will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest or the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
: ORTAS (Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne) - currently an associate member only (1950-57).
: PRTV are showing interest in joining the EBU.
: RTK have shown interest in joining the EBU.Further Information
Get more info on 'European Broadcasting Union'.
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