Martin Österdahl: Those who needed an outlet from their frustrations and disapproved of me, it was ok!

/0 Comments/in , /by

In an interview with the Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of Eurovision, answers about the changes announced by the EBU, the limitation of his duties, the difficult situations due to the political developments in the Middle East that had an impact on the contest in  Malmö, but also for the boos he received during the final of this year’s competition.

Initially, Martin Österdahl is very positive about the changes announced by the EBU, but also about the fact that his responsibilities are being limited, since he will now have more control over what has been assigned to him.

The Eurovision Song Contest has grown explosively over the last four years and the organization has in many cases gotten away from us. If we compare ourselves to a bigger sporting event that has the same media pressure, we were probably a bit naive and didn’t really have the resources we needed.

Martin Österdahl is proud that Eurovision 2024 had high ratings. He points out that Eurovision has lived with “geopolitical tensions” over the years, but that it was particularly difficult in Malmö.

The Middle East issue is complex. They are fighting it out in the White House and in 10 Downing Street, so it is clear that it is also difficult for an organization like the EBU. I don’t have concrete answers as to how we are going to solve this in the future, but that decisions need to be made clearer and that communication is improved, that is what we will focus on.

Regarding the boos he received from the public, Martin Österdahl says that his only concern was that everyone was safe and that he has no problem with boos if they came from people who found an outlet for their frustration this way their.

My concern was that we would overcome these situations and that everyone would leave (Malmo) safe and sound. If they needed an outlet for their frustration, then boos are fine with me. The main thing was that no one was injured.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: Göteborgs-Posten

The core production team for Eurovision 2025 has been announced

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The core production team for the 69th Eurovision Song Contest in Switzerland in 2025 was announced a little earlier.

Swiss public broadcaster SSG SSR has announced several key players who will serve as the main production team behind next year’s competition. These include the positions of Head of Show, Head of Contest, Head of Production etc.

First, Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler will be the Executive Producers for Eurovision 2025. Together, they will take overall responsibility for the production of the contest.

Under them, the head of show for Eurovision 2025 will be Yves Schifferle, who was the head of the delegation for Switzerland. His role will be to produce the result for the three telecasts – two semi-finals and the final – and functions such as the parade of flags, postcards and the voting series.

Schifferle’s new role means he will not be head of the Swiss delegation this year, with Daniel Meister taking over for 2025.

The usual suspect Christer Björkman, who has headed the contest six times in the past, will be doing his seventh Eurovision as Head of Contest in 2025. He will be in charge of both the performance line-up and the acts on the stage.

He will be joined by Tobias Åberg, who will be the Head of Production responsible for technical production, stage construction and IT infrastructure.

Bernhard Spahni joins the team as project manager. Nadja Burkhardt-Tracol will be the head of the event, making her the main contact with the city chosen to host the competition.

Manfred Winz (Head of Finance), Aurore Chatard (Head of Security), Kevin Stuber (Head of Legal), Thomas Pittino (Head of Marketing & Funding), Vassilis Donikian (Head of HR), Nicole Beutler (Head of Public Affairs), Henriette Engbersen (in her capacity as Head of the Public Value team at SRG) and Till Jendly (Assistant) round out the rest of the team.

The core team will now start working to make next May Eurovision 2025. Of course, it still remains unknown which of the four cities, Geneva, Zurich, Basel or Bern will host the contest. The decision will be announced in August.

Source: Eurovision.tv

EBU: The new updated rules do not change anything with the participation of Israel

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

Jean Philip De Tender, Deputy Director General of the EBU, spoke on Swedish Public Radio about all the changes to the Eurovision Song Contest and the conclusion of the independent investigation carried out by the EBU after the end of this year’s Eurovision and everything that happened in Malmö. De Tender made it clear that nothing changes with Israel’s participation in 2025 as well.

Simplification of regulations

Speaking to Carolina Norén on Swedish radio station P4, Jean Philip De Tender explained several details following the independent expert investigation carried out after the 2024 competition.

He explained that Martin Österdahl will remain as executive supervisor, but some of his responsibilities will be transferred to the new Eurovision director.

De Tender also clarified that the EBU wants to simplify the rules on contracts so that everyone involved understands what they are signing up for. He cited the example that 70 years ago the regulations were all one page and now we are talking about hundreds of pages.

Israel will take part in Eurovision 2025

Regarding the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in this year’s contest, De Tender said that as a member of the EBU, KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster, is eligible to participate. He stated that the Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and that the decision to allow Israel to participate is in line with other non-political organizations such as sports federations. However, he added that he believes the EBU needs to clarify its decision-making better:

“I think we need to maybe clarify the decision-making with all the stakeholders better so that people fully understand what the event stands for and what the goal is.”

The Netherlands and Joost Klein in Switzerland?

Regarding the fear of countries withdrawing from the next Eurovision, De Tender clarifies that no country has so far declared its withdrawal and that he believes that the Netherlands will also participate normally in Switzerland.

In the possibility of Joost Klein’s return to the competition, he simply states that this is a matter of the Dutch public broadcaster and since his participation is not contrary to any regulation, he does not see the reason why the artist could be excluded from Eurovision 2025.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: sverigesradio

EBU: Tighter rules and creation of new roles for Eurovision 2025!

/0 Comments/in , , /by

The highly anticipated result of the independent research, regarding all the matters that took place in Malmö, and filled the Contest’s name with a lot of negativity, were given away by the EBU. Read more

Within the coming week the conclusion of the EBU investigation into what happened in Malmö!

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Swiss newspaper Blick reports in today’s publication that next week the EBU will publish the result of the investigation it requested, from an independent researcher.

The conclusion of the investigation into the “Shame of Malmö”, as described in Blick, is to be published in the coming days. The EBU proceeded to conduct an independent investigation into everything that happened inside and outside the Malmo Arena and tarnished the image of this year’s contest.

Blick mentions in its article, on the one hand, that during the week of the final there were several anti-Semitic incidents, while on the other hand several delegations complained about the behavior of members of the Israeli delegation. The highlight of all the negative publicity received by Eurovision 2024 was the moment when a large part of the audience inside the stadium loudly booed the contest’s executive supervisor Martin Österdahl.

We await with interest the outcome of the investigation, which may lead to further developments.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates

Source: Blick

Breaking News: Steering Group’s meeting takes place in Madrid without the presence of Martin Österdahl!

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The Steering Group for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024 visited Madrid to supervise the competition’s preparations, which will be held in the Spanish capital, as seen in pictures posted on social media by Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the head of France’s delegation in both Eurovision and Junior Eurovision. The notable thing, though, is that Martin Österdahl—who serves as Junior Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor to this day—is conspicuously absent from the pictures.

The aforementioned development supports the rumor that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is seeking to remove Martin Österdahl from his position due to his poor handling of this year’s Eurovision and crisis that emerged, which brought about an abundance of negative publicity to the competition. This was also evident during the live broadcast of the Final, when he was the target of numerous and strong criticism as well as booing from the audience.

The 22nd Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Caja Mágica, Madrid on November 16, following France’s refusal to host the contest for the third time in four years.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Israel: Everything ΚΑΝ said in the EBU’s independent investigation for Eurovision 2024

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Israel Public Television confirms that an independent investigation has been carried out, on behalf of the EBU, in relation to everything that happened during Eurovision 2024.

The EBU’s external partner conducting the said investigation has already contacted a senior executive of the Israeli public television. According to what KAN reported to Euromix, it is pointed out:

A conversation took place between the management of the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation and an external examiner appointed by the EBU. The discussion was conducted in a very positive spirit, with the corporation’s team expressing and presenting their experiences and feelings about the Eurovision 2024 contest in Malmö in a full and transparent manner. During the conversation, the Israeli team also addressed the behavior of certain delegation members towards the Israeli delegation.

The EBU will use the results of this investigation to identify what mistakes happened that brought so much negative publicity, but also to learn lessons for the future.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Source: Euromix

ERT and RIK do not support the anonymous statement about Eurovision 2024!

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by

For the past hours, an anonymous statement has been circulating the internet according which delegation members and participants of Eurovision 2024 submitted their complaints about Israel’s participation in this year’s contest. According to our exclusive information, neither ERT nor RIK have signed the following statement.

The following statement as published by ESC Gabe on their X account does not name the delegation members and artists alleged to have signed it, as they want to remain anonymous at the moment:

In recent days, we have seen a number of inaccurate reports about what happened backstage during the Eurovision 2024 contest, the alleged behaviour of artists towards the Israeli delegation, and the events surrounding EBU’s decision to move the Israeli delegation to a location backstage. 

We are concerned about the inaccuracies being reported. During the Eurovision 2024 contest, several artists and national delegations submitted complaints to the EBU for inappropriate behaviour and breach of rules from members of the Israeli delegation.

We are engaging with the EBU and expect these complaints to be duly considered, as per the commitment of EBU’s officials. While there is an ongoing process, it would be inappropriate for us to publicly comment on specific facts, but we will do so, in due course. 

Artists and members of national delegations who participated in the Eurovision 2024 contest

We are now waiting to see whether the statement that is currently circulating the internet will be disputed by other delegations this time, as it has happened before, or delegations and artists will confirm that they have signed the aforementioned statement.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Eurovision 2024: An independent investigation is underway!

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Eurovision 2024 was stigmatized by a series of incidents that jeopardized the smooth operation of the show. Joost Klein’s disqualification along with the participation of Israel and the allegations claiming the Israeli delegation members harassing participants marred the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Following the aforementioned, EBU has now confirmed to the Dutch media that an independent investigation on everything that happened in Malmö is underway. As EBU officially stated to RTL Boulevard:

To further strengthen the Eurovision Song Contest, we have asked an independent expert to look at ESC 2024 in Malmö to share insights and lessons with the EBU governing bodies to support the continuous improvement of this global event.

This development is also confirmed by our own sources and exclusive information. RIK, the Cypriot broadcaster, has already expressed its opinions and insights on what happened in Malmö as well as its own thoughts and ideas on what shall be changed in order to strengthen the contest and maintain its “positive” character.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: RTL Boulevard

Eurovision Song Contest 2025: Reto Peritz and Moritz Stadler will be the Executive Producers!

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The SRG Executive Board has appointed Reto Peritz from SRF and Moritz Stadler from RTS as co-executive producers for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) to be held in Switzerland. Both will continue in their current roles but will be substituted for a year to focus on the contest.

Organizing the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2025 in Switzerland is a monumental task. Responding to the ESC Task Force’s request, the SRG Executive Board has selected the individuals who will assume overall responsibility for the world’s largest music event. The role of executive producer will be jointly held by Reto Peritz, 51, currently the Director of Entertainment at SRF, and Moritz Stadler, 38, currently the Head of Operations at RTS.

The Executive Board believes these two media managers are ideally suited for the job, bringing extensive experience with the ESC. Reto Peritz has previously served as the Head of the Swiss Delegation and was an elected member of the ESC Reference Group from 2019 to 2021. Moritz Stadler is a long-time employee of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

While retaining their current roles within their respective business units, Peritz and Stadler will gradually hand over their ongoing projects until June 2025. This transition will allow them to dedicate their efforts entirely to the organization of the ESC 2025.

 

Δείτε αυτή τη δημοσίευση στο Instagram.

 

Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη SRG SSR (@srg.ssr)

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest updates regarding Eurovision 2025!

Source: SRG-SSR