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European Broadcasting Union
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceThe European Broadcasting Union (EBU; L'Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision ("UER"), 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 is played before and after the Eurovision Song Contest (click 
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. The EBU is also part of the European P2P-Next project.
Links to:
European members
Non-European members
| Country | Broadcasting organisation | Abbr. | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entreprise nationale de Télévision | ENTV | 1969 | |
| Entreprise nationale de Radiodiffusion sonore | ENRS | 1969 | |
| Télédiffusion d'Algérie | TDA | 1969 | |
| Egyptian Radio and Television Union | ERTU | 1950-1957, 1984 | |
| Israel Broadcasting Authority | IBA | 1957 | |
| Jordan Radio and Television Corporation | JRTV | 1969 | |
| Télé Liban | TL | 1950 | |
| Libya Jamahiriya Broadcasting | LJB | 1974 | |
| Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision | SNRT | 1950-1961, 1968 | |
| Etablissement de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Tunisienne | ERTT | 1950 | |
Future & Potential Active EBU Members
- : 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).
- : ORTAS (Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne) - currently an associate member only (1950-57).
- : PRTV are showing interest in joining the EBU.
- : 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
- Eurovision Song Contest
- Eurovision Young Musicians
- Eurovision Young Dancers
External links
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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 08:26:55 PDT (GMT -0700)
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