European Broadcasting Union

The European Broadcasting Union is a confederation of 75 broadcasting organisations from 56 countries, and 43 associate broadcasters from a further 25. It is unrelated to the European Union. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned public service broadcasters or privately owned stations with public missions. Full active Members are based in countries from Algeria to the Vatican State, including almost all European countries. Associate members are not limited to those from European countries and the Mediterranean but include broadcasters from Canada, Japan, Mexico, India and Hong Kong, as well as many others. Associate Members from the United States include ABC, CBS, NBC, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Time Warner, and the only individual station, WFMT. Active members are those whose states fall within the European Broadcasting Area, or otherwise those who are members of the Council of Europe. The EBU's highest profile production is the Eurovision Song Contest, organised by its Eurovision Network. The Eurovision Network also organises the Eurovision Dance Contest, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, the former Eurovision Young Dancers competition, and other competitions for young musicians and screenwriters, which are modelled along similar lines. The countries in the EBU have also often worked together to create documentaries and (animated) children's programming. EBU provides several targeted training courses for broadcast professionals through its section EBU Training which was founded in 1999 and since then, has trained over 5,000 people from more than 30 countries. Most of the programmes are offered exclusively to EBU members. However, certain programmes are increasingly made available to non-members. Most EBU broadcasters have a group deal to carry the Olympics and FIFA World Cup (particularly, the games of their country and the Final). Another annually recurring event which is broadcast across Europe through the EBU is the Vienna New Year's Concert. The theme music played before EBU broadcasts is Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Prelude to Te Deum. It is well known to Europeans as it is played before and after the Eurovision Song Contest and other important events (click to listen).