(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ukraine and Liverpool, England United By Music [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-02 Today, Monday, the microphone has been passed from Torino to Liverpool. The English city now becomes the official host city for Eurovision 2023. The two week or so festival culminates in three nights of song competitions, two “semi finals” and a final in which “seeded” countries join in. Last year’s winners, Ukraine are unable to host so the United Kingdom, which came second, will host the party on their behalf. Liverpool was chosen from applicant cities because of its association with music, notably the Beatles. In a nod to them, the logo is in a font called Penny Lane, the name of one of their songs. This year's Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool will have the slogan "United by Music", with its artwork showing hearts beating together. The BBC said it "reflects the very origins of the contest", which was originally created as a broadcasting experiment to bring Europe together. This year's event will be held in the UK because it is too dangerous to stage it in Ukraine, which won in 2022. Both country's flags have been used as inspiration for the colour scheme. All member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (and from 2015, Australia) can enter songs. The previous year’s winner and certain national broadcasters have automatic entry. The latter are the largest contributers to the EBU consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Ukraine was the first country to chose its entry by popular vote. The final was broadcast from a metro station in Kyiv used as a temporary studio, hence the slightly cramped set. The winner was Tvorchi singing “Heart of Steel”. The duo is made up of friends Jefferey and Andriy who met while studying at the Ternopil National Medical University in west Ukraine in 2018. Winning the contest can be a double edged sword. Along with the honor goes the cost of hosting the contest. Before the proliferation of new countries in post-Soviet times, the only broadcast was the final. That still meant that the host broadcaster had to provide the production (sets etc) and accommodation for the other countries, the host city both benefits and has to meet the cost of facilities for the tourists that visit the spectacle. The Irish broadcaster, RTE, was …. financially embarrassed …. when their entry kept winning. How much each participating broadcaster pays to enter is not made public, but the total cost between all entrants normally adds up to around £5m ($6.2m), with the host paying a further sum. Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro, who all failed to make it past last year's semi-finals, have pulled out of this year's competition over money concerns. Local government in and around Liverpool has committed to £4m for attractions around May's contest, including a fan village with big screens and stages for live music. The BBC estimates its costs will be between £8 and £17 million. One condition is that the host broadcaster will make the highest quality transmission available for distribution through the Eurovision network. This year for example I would expect the production to be in 4k UHD as the BBC already has the outside broadcast UHD capability. For countries without capabilities in the rapidly changing broadcast environment, the EBU arranges for other broadcasters to provide equipment and training. The capability is a legacy for the host broadcaster. Although it will be a good excuse to get some new gear, the BBC already produces programming in UHD. For technical reasons, these shows are not available on the digital terrestrial network but via the internet on BBC iPlayer. So most, if not all of the outside broadcast and production facilities will be available within the BBC. With the networking infrastructure already in place, the extra cost of installing one will be saved. Hopefully the EBU can put this aside to assist the upgrading of the Ukrainian broadcasting network post war. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/2/2150283/-Ukraine-and-Liverpool-England-United-By-Music Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/