European Broadcasting Union

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"EBU" redirects here. For other uses, see EBU (disambiguation). European Broadcasting Union
Union européenne de radio-télévision

Countries with one or more members are in green

Formation12 February 1950 Type Union of broadcasting organisations Headquarters Geneva, SwitzerlandMembership 74 active members Website http://www.ebu.ch/

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; French: L'Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision ("UER"), and unrelated to the European Union) is a confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters 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.

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 is played before and after the Eurovision Song Contest and other important events (click [1] to listen).

1 History
2 Technical activities
3 Members
4 See also
5 External links

History

The classic opening ident that preceded all Eurovision network transmissions until the mid-90s. The logotypes of both the sending and receiving company were shown in the middle. For example, the BBC.

It 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.

The first 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.

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. [2]. The EBU is also part of the European P2P-Next project.

Links to:

Members

European members

A map illustrating the entry dates of EBU member states. Some states have more than one channel so only the earliest is counted. Country Broadcasting organisation Abbr.Year Albania Albanian Public Radio and Television(Radio Televizioni Shqiptar) RTSH 1999 Andorra Radio and Television of Andorra(Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra) RTVA 2002 Armenia Armenian Public Television(Հայաստանի հանրային հեռուստաընկերություն) ARMTV 2005 Austria Austrian Broadcasting(Österreichischer Rundfunk) ORF 1953 Azerbaijan Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
(İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti) İTV 2007 Belarus National State Teleradiocompany
(Нацыянальная дзяржаўная тэлерадыёкампанія Рэспублікі Беларусь) BTRC 1993 Belgium Flemish Radio- and Television Network(Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep) VRT 1950 Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française(Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française) RTBF 1950 Bosnia & Herzegovina Radiotelevision of Bosnia-Herzegovina(Radio-televizija Bosne i Hercegovine) BHRT 1993 Bulgaria Bulgarian National Radio(Българско национално радио) BNR 1993 Bulgarian National Television(Българска национална телевизия) BNT 1993 Croatia Croatian Radiotelevision(Hrvatska radiotelevizija) HRT 1993 Czech Republic Czech Radio(Český rozhlas) ČR 1993 Czech Television(Česká televize) ČT 1993 Cyprus Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation(Ραδιοφωνικό Ίδρυμα Κύπρου) (Kıbrıs Yayın Kurumu) CY/CBC 1968 Denmark Danish Radio(Danmarks Radio) DR 1950 TV2DK/TV2 1990 Estonia Estonian Public Broadcasting(Eesti Rahvusringhääling) ERR 1993 Finland MTV3(Mainostelevisio 3) FI/MTV 1993 YLE(Yleisradio Oy) YLE 1950 France
- TF1(Télévision Française 1)
- France 2
- France 3
- Canal+
- Radio France
- Radio France InternationaleGRF 1950 Europe 1E1 1982 Georgia Georgian Public Broadcasting(საქართველოს საზოგადოებრივი მაუწყებელი) GPB 2005 Germany ARD(Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten) ARD 1952 ZDF(Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) ZDF 1963 Greece Hellenic Radio Television(Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση) ERT 1950 Hungary Hungarian Radio(Magyar Rádió) MR 1993 Hungarian Television(Magyar Televízió) HU/MTV 1993 Iceland National Broadcasting Service(Ríkisútvarpið) RÚV 1956 Ireland Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster(Radio Telefís Éireann) RTÉ 1950 TG4(Teilifís na Gaeilge) TG4 2007 Italy Italian Radiotelevision(RAI-Radiotelevisione Italiana) RAI 1950 LatviaLatvian Radio (Latvijas Radio) LR 1993 Latvian Television(Latvijas Televīzija) LTV 1993 Lithuania Lithuanian National Radio and Television(Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija) LRT 1993 Luxembourg CLT Multi MediaRTL 1950 Radio 100,7ERSL 1996 Malta Public Broadcasting ServicesMT/PBS 1969 Moldova Teleradio-MoldovaTRM 1993 Monaco Radio Monte-Carlo(Groupement de Radiodiffuseurs Monégasques) TMC 1950 Montenegro Radio Television of Montenegro(Радио Телевизија Црне Горе) RTCG 2001 Netherlands Netherlands Public Broadcasting(Nederlandse Publieke Omroep) NPO 1950 Norway Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation(Norsk rikskringkasting) NRK 1950 TV2NO/TV2 1992 Poland Polish Television(Telewizja Polska) TVP 1993 Polish Radio(Polskie Radio) PR 1993 Portugal Radio and Television of Portugal(Rádio e Televisão de Portugal) RTP 1950 FYR Macedonia Macedonian Radio-Television(Македонска Радио Телевизија) MKRTV 1993 Romania Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company(Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune) ROR 1993 Romanian Television(Televiziunea Română) TVR 1993 Russia Channel One(Первый канал) C1R 1993 Radio House Ostankino(Радиодом Останкино) RDO 1993 Russia TV Channel(Телеканал Россия) RTR 1993 San Marino San Marino RTVSMRTV 1995 Serbia Radio Television of Serbia(Радио-телевизија Србије) RTS 2001 Slovakia Slovak Radio(Slovenský rozhlas) SK/SR 1993 Slovak Television(Slovenská televízia) SK/STV 1993 Slovenia Radio-Television Slovenia(Radiotelevizija Slovenija) RTVSLO 1993 Spain RTVE(Radiotelevisión Española) RTVE 1955 Cadena SER(Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión) SER 1975 Cadena COPE(Cadena de Ondas Populares de España) COPE 1998 Sweden Swedish Radio(Sveriges Radio) SR 1950 Swedish Television(Sveriges Television) SVT 1979 Swedish Educational Broadcasting(Sveriges Utbildningsradio) UR 1985 TV4TV4 2004 Switzerland Swiss Broadcasting Corporation(SRG SSR idée suisse) SSR 1950 Turkey Turkish Radio and Television Corporation(Türkiye Radyo-Televizyon Kurumu) TRT 1950 Ukraine National Television Company of Ukraine(Національна Телекомпанія України) NTU 1993 National Radio Company of Ukraine(Національна радіокомпанія України) NRU 1993 United Kingdom British Broadcasting CorporationBBC 1950 United Kingdom Independent BroadcastingUKIB 1959 Vatican City Vatican Radio(Radio Vaticana) RV 1950 Yugoslavia Yugoslav Radio Television(Jugoslovenska radiotelevizija) JRT 1950-92

Non-European members

Country Broadcasting organisation Abbr.Year AlgeriaNational Television Company (المـؤسـسـة العمومية للتـلـفزيـون) ENTV 1969 National Sound-broadcasting Company (الإذاعة الجزائري) ENRS 1969 Television of Algeria (التلفزيون في الجزائر) TDA 1969 EgyptEgyptian Radio and Television Union (التلفزيون المصري) ERTU 1950-1957, 1984 Israel Israel Broadcasting Authority(רָשׁוּת השׁידוּר) IBA 1957 Jordan Jordan Radio and Television Corporation(الفضائية) JRTV 1969 Lebanon Télé LibanTL 1950 LibyaLibya Jamahiriya Broadcasting LJB 1974 Morocco Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de TélévisionSNRT 1950-1961, 1968 TunisiaEtablissement de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Tunisienne ERTT 1950

Associate Members

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Country Broadcasting organisation Abbr.Year Australia National Television CompanyABC Australia SBS AustraliaSBS BangladeshNational Broadcasting Authority of Bangladesh Canada Canadian Broadcasting Corporation(Societé Radio Canada) CBC/SRC Chile Canal 13 (Chile)UCCTV Cuba Cuban TelevisionICRT GambiaGambia Radio & Television Service GRTS Greenland Kalaallit Nunaata RadioaKNR Hong Kong Radio Television Hong KongRTHK India All India RadioAIR Iran Islamic Republic of Iran BroadcastingIRIB Japan Nippon Hoso KyokaiNHK Malaysia Radio Television MalaysiaRTM MauritaniaTV de Mauritanie MR/TVM Mauritius Mauritius Broadcasting CorporationMBC Nepal Nepal TelevisionNTVC New Zealand Television New Zealand LtdTVNZ OmanOman Directorate General of Radio and Television ODGRT Pakistan Pakistan Television CorporationPK/PTV Qatar Al Jazeera Children's ChannelJCC South Africa South African Broadcasting CorporationSABC United States of America National Broadcasting CompanyNBC Venezuela Radio Caracas Televisión / Radio Caracas RadioRCTV Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Broadcasting CorporationZBC Qatar Al Jazeera Children's ChannelJCC

Potential active EBU members

Liechtenstein: Currently Liechtenstein has no national television station, but if they form one, they will 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).
Morocco: 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.
Syria: ORTAS (Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne) - currently an associate member only (1950-57).
Palestine: PRTV are showing interest in joining the EBU.
Kosovo: RTK have shown interest in joining the EBU.

External links

EBU Website

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v • d • eMembers of the European Broadcasting Union

ARD · ARMTV · BBC · BHRT · BNR · BNT · BTRC · C1R · C+ · CLT/RTL · COPE · CyBC · ČR · ČT · DR · E1 · ENRS · ENTV · ERR · ERSL · ERT · ERTT · ERTU · FT2 · FT3 · FT5 · FTV · GPB · HRT · IBA · ITV · JRTV · LJB · LR · LRT · LTV · MKRTV · MR · MTV · MTV3 · NPO · NRK · NRU · NTU · ORF · PBS · PR · RAI · RDO · RFI · RMC · ROR · RTBF · RTCG · RTÉ · RTP · RTR · RTS · RTSH · RTVA · RTVE · RTVSLO · RÚV · SER · SMRTV · SNRT · SR (Slovakia) · SR (Swe) · SRF · SRG SSR idée suisse · STV · SVT · TDA · TF1 · TG4 · TL · TMC · TRM · TRT · TV2 · TV4 · TVP · TVR · UKIB · UR · VR · VRT · YLE · ZDF