Eurovision 2023 - BBC

[Steve]

Wonder if Cat Deeley might be in the mix - huge amount of live experience, well known in the States (if they’re wanting an audience there), more active here of late on Radio 2 etc. Obviously not hugely familiar across Europe or perhaps with younger generations compared to mine, but could be an option.

[Brekkie]

Good call.  She knows how to control a crowd.

[Inspector Sands]

The issue of the cost of the contest is a difficult one for the BBC in particular. The contest these days is heavily sponsored, if you saw this year's on a commercially funded broadcaster you'd have seen the loog of Morroccan Oil pop up every time the ESC logo did, and the credits contained many commercial company names.

Thing is that the British viewers don't see them, so the assumption will be that it will be entirely BBC funded.

It also puts the beeb into the issue of making a show and event that is heavily commercialised without it seeming like it is to the public. They also might be some internal complications too but as it'll presumably be produced by their commercial arm BBC Studios that should be less of an issue than it would have been 10 tears ago

[TIGHazard]

The issue of the cost of the contest is a difficult one for the BBC in particular. The contest these days is heavily sponsored, if you saw this year's on a commercially funded broadcaster you'd have seen the loog of Morroccan Oil pop up every time the ESC logo did, and the credits contained many commercial company names.

Thing is that the British viewers don't see them, so the assumption will be that it will be entirely BBC funded.

It also puts the beeb into the issue of making a show and event that is heavily commercialised without it seeming like it is to the public. They also might be some internal complications too but as it'll presumably be produced by their commercial arm BBC Studios that should be less of an issue than it would have been 10 tears ago

How was it dealt with in 1998?

[gottago]

The issue of the cost of the contest is a difficult one for the BBC in particular. The contest these days is heavily sponsored, if you saw this year's on a commercially funded broadcaster you'd have seen the loog of Morroccan Oil pop up every time the ESC logo did, and the credits contained many commercial company names.

Thing is that the British viewers don't see them, so the assumption will be that it will be entirely BBC funded.

It also puts the beeb into the issue of making a show and event that is heavily commercialised without it seeming like it is to the public. They also might be some internal complications too but as it'll presumably be produced by their commercial arm BBC Studios that should be less of an issue than it would have been 10 tears ago

There will be some way around it. The 2014 contest had a ton of sponsors despite it being on DR which is commercial free but also IIRC doesn't have any sponsorship opportunities, unlike Norway and Sweden which can have their larger productions sponsored. So essentially they were the same boat as the BBC but managed to get around it somehow. It could be as simple as sponsorship being organised through the EBU rather than the BBC.

[Roger Darthwell]

Don't know if I should post this, but now Boris Johnson himself has said that next year's Eurovision should be held in Ukraine, and that they will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...n-comments

[Ericak]

Don't know if I should post this, but now Boris Johnson himself has said that next year's Eurovision should be held in Ukraine, and that they will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...n-comments

Were you expecting anything else from him....
Is he still pretending that the war will be over by Christmas like covid was supposed to

[Markymark]

Without getting political, Boris J, or Kier Stanamer or the vast majority of politicians, regardless of party, have no idea about the practicalities of producing a 4 hour shiny floor LE show. Most of them probably couldn't even fit a 13 amp plug, so don't worry....

[william]

It has also been revealed Suspline offered Lyiv and a location on the border with Hungary and Slovakia but both have been rejected.

I can only see the EBU u turning or Suspline withdrawing from the contest. Possibly we see a dual hosted contest in which the presenters are based in Ukraine but the acts perform from somewhere else - like a border country.

I would have thought the acceptable compromise is a sufficiently safe location, as close to Ukraine geographically without being actually in it…

I'd be quite annoyed if the BBC hosted it:

- as has been documented for many years in these threads (and one or two books) successive waves of BBC management don't care about it or have never really understood it 
- because of how depressing the UK media coverage would be 
- a significant part of the enjoyment of watching the ESC - for many overseas viewers too I'm sure - is that it's in someone else's country, so you get all the cultural interest. Holding it in the UK would remove all the fun (as it did for me in 1998). 

(That said - the Lambie-Nairn balloons might be a start for the postcards.)

[Ericak]

It has also been revealed Suspline offered Lyiv and a location on the border with Hungary and Slovakia but both have been rejected.

I can only see the EBU u turning or Suspline withdrawing from the contest. Possibly we see a dual hosted contest in which the presenters are based in Ukraine but the acts perform from somewhere else - like a border country.

I would have thought the acceptable compromise is a sufficiently safe location, as close to Ukraine geographically without being actually in it…

And who will pay for this?
The EBU didn't just choose the BBC because it came 2nd.

Also I don't know how you can complain about expected media coverage given it's had the best coverage in over 20 years thanks to Sam Ryder

[telebox2001]

Ref sponsorship who are the deals actually with? The fact that Moroccanoil sponsored both Rotterdam and Turin leads me to think that the S&P stuff if done at higher level. And surely we aren't the only one in the EBU with these restrictions?

[Brekkie]

Worth remembering all those cities expressing an interest yesterday will have to attach a few million quid to their bids and sponsorship nowadays would go far beyond what appears on the TV broadcast, not just on social media but within the city itself too.

[SteveRW]

Don't know if I should post this, but now Boris Johnson himself has said that next year's Eurovision should be held in Ukraine, and that they will be able to do so despite the ongoing war with Russia https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...n-comments

it's called diplomacy. For Bolris Johnson or any other leader of a European Country to categorically rule out a Ukraine contest would be totally demoralising for the Ukrainian people.

We Brits were told during WWII that the war would be over by Christmas. It kept optimism and hope alive. The UK Government have given an enthusiastic thumbs up for the contest to be held in the UK. It is obvious that the PM would say that the contest should be held in Ukraine. We all think it should be held in Ukraine. However circumstances are currently dictating that it cant be. That's not to say that these circumstances will still be an issue next May. Which is really what the PM was saying. 

Being a politician, of any colour, I'm being impartial, is about keeping the spirits of people up. Offering hope and a way forward is important. Without things to hope for and look forward to people feel demoralised and miserable. All politicians and PM's have had situations where they have had to say what people want to hear and not what is going to upset them.

---

I would have thought the acceptable compromise is a sufficiently safe location, as close to Ukraine geographically without being actually in it…

And who will pay for this?
The EBU didn't just choose the BBC because it came 2nd.

Also I don't know how you can complain about expected media coverage given it's had the best coverage in over 20 years thanks to Sam Ryder

The EBU did say that they approached the BBC because the UK came second and won the jury vote. It's in the BBC article.

It should be noted that the EBU are in talks with the BBC to "potentially" host it, meaning that if Ukraine can't then there is a guarantee that the contest can go ahead in the UK instead. Situations change.

[telebox2001]

But the EBU have ruled it out and are now going down the leaderboard. With RTVE (3rd) having ruled themselves out already, the next stop is SVT (4th) - and it would be very unlikely they said no.

[Brekkie]

It's interesting how in the presenter debate that Britain's "most popular" presenters don't even feature considering Ant and Dec are so ITV, but with them currently renewing their deal they could always agree a clause which would enable them to do it should they be asked. In a way too Ant and Dec hosting a BBC show would make it stand out a bit more as an event too rather than just the usual BBC faces being used.


Do we know of anyone else who was in the frame back in 1998 alongside Ulrika Johnson?