Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final
EBU calls for report on televoting

Geneva, 13 May 2004. On Wednesday 12 May, an hour after the broadcast of the Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU received the brief report of the results from its televoting partner, Digame (an affiliate of Deutsche Telekom). This report revealed a problem with the calculation software during the processing of the result from Monaco and a problem with SMS voting in Croatia. 

The EBU and Digame are to hold a press conference at the Press Conference Hall of the Abdi Ipekçi in Istanbul, at 18.00 (local time) on 13 May.

The Digame report said that the technical errors that occurred during the voting in these two countries would NOT change the results of the ten countries to have qualified for the Final on Saturday.

The report also stated that these errors affected the points of some of the non-qualifying countries.

Digame stated that once the technical problems for Monaco and Croatia had been corrected the votes were re-processed and that they were “the correct final result of yesterday’s televoting” (see Annexe).

The EBU has demanded a full report from Digame/Deutsche Telekom including a thorough review of the results, which must be submitted to the EBU today, and that Digame/Deutsche Telekom guarantees that they will solve the current problems with their software before the Final on Saturday night. 

Ernst & Young, as an independent auditor, is advising the EBU in this matter. 

For further information:

EBU
Patrick Jaquin, Communications Service, +41 22 717 2033, jaquin@ebu.ch 
Aline Ingwersen, EBU Media Officer, +41 79 774 86 44, ingwersen@ebu.ch

Digame/Deutsche Telekom
Werner Klötsch, +49 170 570 74 06, werner.kloetsch@digame.de  

Annexe

ESC 2004 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS CORRECTED BY DIGAME AFTER THE SHOW 
11 Israel 57
12 Estonia 57
13 Denmark 56
14 Finland 51
15 Portugal 38
16 Lithuania 26
17 Latvia 23
18 Andorra 12
19 Belarus 10
20 Monaco 10
21 Slovenia 5
22 Switzerland 0
 TOTAL 345
  
ESC 2004 SEMI-FINAL RESULTS COMMUNICATED DURING THE TELEVISION SHOW
11 Estonia 65
12 Israel 57
13 Denmark 56
14 Finland 45
15 Portugal 37
16 Lithuania 26
17 Latvia 21
18 Andorra 12
19 Slovenia 11
20 Belarus 10
21 Monaco 10
22 Switzerland 0
 TOTAL 350

pj / ep