At their meeting in Geneva on 28 February, the 14 members of the Euroradio Committee discussed three main topics: the revision of the Euroradio expert groups, the new edition of the Euroradio Development Fund and the agenda of the next Euroradio Assembly.

Concerning the current 20 expert groups in radio, the Committee agreed on reducing the number of their annual meetings, mainly owing to financial reasons, and to encourage the groups to meet virtually via the Internet. At the same time, closer collaboration with TV expert groups is recommended where it makes sense, as in news, sports and music. The International Broadcasting Group will be merged with the TV Bruges Group.

With the Euroradio Development Fund, which is to be replenished, the Committee wishes to encourage innovative programme ideas and new radio formats, especially with multimedia aspects. A new application form is also available (Development Fund application form, Development Fund Draft Rules).

The Euroradio Assembly, which will be held on 2-3 May in Tenerife, will concentrate on issues directly connected with public service radio. There will be keynote addresses and panel discussions devoted to funding, strategies on how to stay visible as PSM despite budget cuts and best-practice content showing the strength of public service media.

TV to increase collaboration among expert groups

Parallel to the Euroradio meeting, the 69th TV Committee Meeting took place in Geneva. A presentation and discussion of ongoing projects covered the cross-media 'Tribute to' offer, Eurovision Connect, EYD 2013, the VPO package, the CERN initiative, the ESC's 2013 Malmö edition and the thematic projects for 2013 and 2014 (Eurovision Cinema Week and the WW1 centenary respectively). Broader discussions addressed the Media Department`s strategy, the reconfigured TV Development Fund, and the agenda of the upcoming TV Assembly (part of the Media Summit's first edition at the end of May in Brussels).

New strategic objectives identified for the TV unit include: increased collaboration among the various expert groups, an expansion of the Eurovision Creative Forum, a new push for development of new formats and co-productions, and new research in the area of funding. Furthermore the TV Services will increasingly focus on major events such as the WW1 package and flagship events like ESC, EYM, EYD and JESC.

Joint Radio and TV projects are pure multimedia

After meeting for one day in separate sessions, the two Committees held a joint meeting the next day. After introducing themselves to each other, Alain Massé (FRSRF), Chair of the Euroradio Committee, commented on Radio activities, and Ruurd Bierman (NLNOS) did the same as Chair of the Television Committee. Annika Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser, EBU Media Director, pointed out that the merger of Radio and TV expert groups had already begun and was focusing on content where it made sense, as in news, sport and music.

EBU project managers presented ongoing joint projects: the commemoration of World War I in 2014, the 40th anniversary of ABBA's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest (2014) and the joint music offers, done for Radio and TV by Euroradio Services. There are two other projects in common: investigative journalism, a competition in which the jury already has chosen two winners; and Vision 2020, a strategic process throughout the EBU aimed at finding the means to help the public service media survive in the future.