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Integrated television in Europe: a note on the EUROVISION network

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Konrad M. Kressley
Konrad M. Kressley
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Political Science at Catawba College.
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Abstract

For nearly a quarter of a century, European television audiences have enjoyed international coverage of news, sports, and entertainment programs from abroad because of EUROVISION, one of the most successful efforts at technical and cultural cooperation on that continent. The EUROVISION network is an activity of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) currently linking some twenty-five national TV broadcasting services in Western Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East through a permanent network of microwave relays supplemented by satellite hookups to the more remote members. Participation is on a voluntary basis, which means that the international network is more or less a noncommercial clearing house for bi- and multi-lateral program exchanges plus joint telecasts of Olympic games or overseas events. Although EUROVISION programming accounts for only a small share of the total TV broadcast hours in Europe and is hampered by cultural and linguistic barriers, it has proven effective.

Type
Research Notes
Information
International Organization , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1978 , pp. 1045 - 1050
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1978

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References

1 A more detailed account of EUROVISION operations is to be found in the article “EUROVISION Celebrates its 20th Anniversary,” Telecommunications Journal 41, IX (1974)Google Scholar.

2 The two principals were Marcel Bezençon of Switzerland and Théo Fleischmann of Belgium, both of whom later became presidents of the EBU. The birth of EUROVISION is well chronicled by Bellac, Paul, “Origin and First Steps of the EBU Programme Committee,” EBU Review (05 1964): 21–22Google Scholar.

3 “A Promise of Unity…” Newsweek, 28 June 1954, pp. 56–57.

4 The original EUROVISION participants were Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It currently includes TV services from Austria, Algeria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.

5 Telecommunications Journal, op. cit.: 537.

6 Interview, author with Mr. Rudolf Gressmann, director, EBU Technical Center, Brussels, 16 December 1974.

7 In 1974 the eight smallest EUROVISION participants paid for only 1 percent of the costs incurred in connecting them to the EUROVISION network. After a two year transitional period, they are expected to take up SO percent of that burden.

8 Bezençon, Marcel, “Eurovision or the Price of Fame,” EBU Review 05 1964: p. 9Google Scholar.