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European Broadcasting Union

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File:EBU UER European Broadcasting Union logo.gif
Logo of the EBU/UER.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), known in French as L'Union Européenne de Radio-Télévision (UER), and unrelated to the European Union, was formed on 12 February 1950 by 23 broadcasting organizations 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.

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

As of 2006, the EBU has 74 active members from 54 countries, and 44 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 are not 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 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, which are generally not considered to be part of Europe. The Eurovision Network also organises the Eurovision Young Dancers competition, as well as 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 the year 1993 based on the books of the same title by Colin Dann. The second animated collaboration was Noah's Island from 1997.

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).

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).

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:

Full EBU members

European members

Non-European members

  • Algeria: ENTV (Entreprise nationale de Télévision), ENRS (Entreprise nationale de Radiodiffusion sonore) and TDA (Télédiffusion d'Algérie).
  • Egypt: ERTU (Egyptian Radio and Television Union).
  • Israel: IBA (Israel Broadcasting Authority).
  • Jordan: JRTV (Jordan Radio and Television Corporation).
  • Lebanon: RL/TL (Télé-Liban).
  • Libya: LJB (Libya Jamahiriya Broadcasting).
  • Morocco: MA/RTM (Radiodiffusion-Télévision Marocaine).
  • Tunisia: ERTT (Etablissement de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Tunisienne).

Future & Potential EBU Members

  • Azerbaijan: AzTV has been accepted for active EBU membership and will acede to the union in January 2007.
  • Liechtenstein: currently Liechtenstein has no national television or radio station, but if they get one it will be possible for them to join the EBU (this technicality had affected them once before when they were not allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969)
  • Syria: ORTAS (Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne) - currently an associate member only
  • Kosovo: RTK - currently an associate member
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