EUROPEAN BROADCASTING UNION

(Redirected from EBU)

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 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.

The EBU's most well-known production is probably 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.
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 is played before and after the Eurovision Song Contest (click [1] to listen).

Contents
EBU Technical activities
Active EBU members
European members
Non-European members
Future & Potential Active EBU Members
See also
External links

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.
----
Links to:

EBU Technical homepage

EBU Technical Review

Active EBU members


European members

Country Broadcasting organisation Abbr. Year
Albania Radio Televizioni Shqiptar RTSH 1999
Andorra Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra RTVA 2002
Armenia Public Television & Radio Company of Armenia 2005
Austria Österreichischer Rundfunk IRF 1953
Azerbaijan İctimai Televiziya və Radio Yayımları Şirkəti 2007
Belarus Belaruskaja Tele-Radio Campanija BT 1993
Belgium Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep een 1950
Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française RTBF 1950
 Bos. & Herz. Radio-televizija Bosne i Hercegovine 1993
Bulgaria Bălgarsko Nationalno Radio, Bălgarska Nationalna Televizija 1993
Croatia Hrvatska radiotelevizija HRT 1993
Czech Rep. Český rozhlas 1993
Česká televize 1993
Denmark Danmarks Radio DR 1950
TV2/Danmark 1990
Estonia Eesti Rahvusringhääling 1993
Finland MTV Oy 1993
Oy Yleisradio Ab YLE 1950
France Groupement des radiodiffuseurs francais 1950
Europe 1 1982
Georgia Georgian Public Broadcasting 2005
Germany Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ARD 1952
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ZDF 1963
Greece Elliniki Radiophonia Tileorassi SA ERT 1950
Hungary Magyar Rádió 1993
Iceland Ríkisútvarpið RUV 1956
Ireland Radio Telefís Éireann RTE 1950
Teilifís na Gaeilge 2007
Italy Radiotelevisione Italiana RAI 1950
Latvia Latvijas Radio 1993
Lithuania Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija 1993
Luxembourg CLT Multi Media 1950
Etablissement de Radiodiffusion Socioculturelle du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg 1996
FYR Macedonia Macedonian Radio-Television 1993
Malta Public Broadcasting Services PBS 1969
Moldova Teleradio-Moldova 1993
Monaco Groupement de Radiodiffusion monégasque TMC 1950
Radio-televizija Crne Gore 2001
Netherlands Nederlandse Publieke Omroep 1950
Norway Norsk Rikskringkasting 1950
TV2 Norway 1992
Poland Polskie Radio i Telewizja TVP 1992
Portugal Rádio e Televisão de Portugal RTP 1950
Romania Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune 1993
Televiziunea Română TVR 1993
Russia Channel One Russia 1993
Radio Dom Ostankino 1993
RossijskoeTeleradio 1993
San Marino San Marino RTV 1995
Serbia Radio-televizija Srbije 2001
Slovakia Slovenský Rozhlas 1993
Slovenská Televizia 1993
Slovenia Radiotelevizija Slovenija 1993
Spain Radiotelevisión Española 1955
Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión 1975
Radio Popular SA Cope 1998
Sweden Sveriges Television och Radiogrupp 1950
TV4 2004
SRG SSR idée suisse - Sociéte Suisse de Radiodiffusion et Télévision 1950
Ukraine Natsionalna Telekompaniya Ukraïny 1993
Natsionalna Radiokompanya Ukraïny 1993
British Broadcasting Corporation BBC 1950
United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting IKIB 1959
Vatican City Radio Vaticana 1950

Non-European members

Country Broadcasting organisation Abbr. Year
Entreprise nationale de Télévision 1969
Entreprise nationale de Radiodiffusion sonore 1969
Télédiffusion d'Algérie 1969
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation 1968
Egyptian Radio and Television Union 1950-1957, 1984
Israel Broadcasting Authority 1957
Jordan Radio and Television Corporation 1969
Télé Liban 1950
Libya Jamahiriya Broadcasting 1974
Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision 1950-1961, 1968
Etablissement de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Tunisienne 1950
Turkey Türkiye Radyo-Televizyon Kurumu 1950

Future & Potential Active EBU Members



Liechtenstein: Currently Liechtenstein has no national television or radio station, but if they form one, they will be possible to join the EBU (this technicality had affected them once before when they weren't allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969).

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.

Morocco: The second commercial channel of Morocco 2M TV have asked for membership to the EBU. It is still unknown if Morocco will parcipate in the Eurovision Song Contest or the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

See also



Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union

Junior Eurovision Song Contest

External links



EBU Website

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves