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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.

As of 2004, the EBU has active full members from 52 countries, and associate members from a further 29. 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.

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 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.

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:

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).
  • Armenia: AMPTV (Public Television & Radio Company of Armenia)
  • 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: currently no Azeri television or radio station complies with EBU membership rules, but after October 2005 it is possible for Azeri broadcasters to become full EBU members
  • 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

External links

1950 establishments | Broadcasting | Publicly-funded broadcasters | Television networks | Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Broadcasting Union | European Broadcasting Union | Unión Europea de Radiodifusión | Union européenne de radio-télévision | Samband evrópskra sjónvarpsstöðva | European Broadcasting Union | איגוד השידור האירופאי | European Broadcasting Union | Europejska Unia Nadawców | Bashkimi Evropian i Radio-Televizioneve | Euroopan yleisradiounioni | Europeiska Radio- och TV-unionen

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "European Broadcasting Union".

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