Geneva, 11 December 1999 –
The European Broadcasting Union today hailed its success in winning
the rights to broadcast the 2004 European football championships as
a victory for viewers.
"The EBU is delighted to have won the contract,"
EBU Secretary-General Jean-Bernard Münch said in a statement. "Our
members found it very hard to muster the necessary financial
resources but they considered it essential in order to ensure that
the widest possible audience will be able to watch the matches on
free-to-air television."
UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations,
announced earlier that it had sold the rights to the 2004
competition to the EBU, the professional association of Europe’s
public service broadcasters. The price was not disclosed. The
competition will take place in Portugal.
Although the EBU has a long record of broadcasting
the world’s top football competitions, including the World Cup,
there had been stiff competition for the contract from sports
agencies with links to pay-television channels. In 1996, the world
football association FIFA broke a longstanding tradition of
cooperation with the EBU by selling the rights to the 2002 and 2006
World Cup competitions to ISL/Kirch. As a result, many matches in
those events will be screened only on pay-television.
"UEFA’s decision today is a tribute to the quality
and range of coverage offered by the EBU to the widest possible
audience, on free-to-air television, and another welcome
recognition that money is not the only important factor," Mr Münch
said.
The International Olympic Committee has sold the
EBU the broadcasting rights to all Olympic Games until the year
2008, preferring to work in partnership with the EBU rather than
accept far higher bids from other quarters.
Founded in 1950, the EBU groups 69 national
broadcasters from 50 countries in the European broadcasting area,
plus 49 associate members further afield. Its activities include
operating the Eurovision and Euroradio networks, the exchange of
news items and sports programming, technical research and
standardisation, and the defence of public service
broadcasting.
Further information:
David Lewis
Press Attaché
Tel: +41 (0)22 717 2032
Fax: +41 (0)22 747 4032
Mob: +41 (0)79 217 0922
lewis@ebu.ch
