Despite already paying its 2016 participation fee, Romania risks withdrawal from the Eurovision Song Contest because of TVR’s outstanding debts to the European Broadcasting Union, the Romanian broadcaster has revealed in a press release.
TVR’s debt, in excess of 10 million euro, has prompted the EBU to verbally warn that they would move to the next level of sanctions, which means elimination from the contest and cutting the broadcasting signal entirely. According to a press release issued by the Romanian state television,
EBU’s representatives have warned – verbally for now – TVR’s representatives that, because of the debts accumulated in the past eight years, [EBU] would move to the next stage of sanctions. Thus, Romania risks not being accepted on the Eurovision stage and not receiving the satellite signal for broadcasting the contest.
The Romanian broadcaster says that, in order to avoid just that, it paid the 2016 participation fee on time, but this is not enough to quiet concerns because of the high debt and TVR’s virtual bankruptcy. According to the same source, the European Broadcasting Union officials are now waiting for a statement from the authorities that would guarantee that TVR would continue to exist and pay the outstanding debts.
Although Romania’s elimination is unlikely due to the advanced date and preparations that are already in motion, it is a serious warning that puts a question mark over Romania’s participation in the coming years. TVR’s financial struggles have been a constant in the past, and endangered Romania’s participation both in 2014 and 2015. The last debt instalment that TVR paid, amounting to 250,000 euro, was not enough to calm the EBU’s concerns regarding the broadcaster’s ability to pay full debt in full.
Asked about this, Ovidiu Anton, the singer who is supposed to represent Romania after winning Selectia Nationala with “Moment Of Silence”, told Romanian daily Evenimentul zilei that he hoped the issue would be solved prior to his participation in Stockholm.
The Romanian Television has always worked hard to promote our music and help us artists succeed abroad. I hope that this time, when it’s also essential, the state institutions will continue to support us, for the sake of Romanian music in general and my participation in particular. We are currently about to promote my song “Moment of Silence” in London, as we did in Tel Aviv and Amsterdam. We hope that the people in charge will continue to watch over us and our music.
“No worries, just rock and roll”
We caught up with Ovidiu ahead of the London Eurovision Party and asked him about the situation. He said his focus was on the performance he was about to give.
“When I was called by the press to give a statement, … I said my main concern is going to London and rocking the stage. So until someone tells me, “Ovidiu, you’re staying home,” I’m just minding my business, I’m just preparing for Stockholm, I’m just taking each show at a time. So today is about London, today is about being here and singing for you guys. No worries, just rock and roll.”
But is there a chance he won’t make it to Stockholm? Ovidiu says he hopes not: “After all I’ve done in trying to win this, I don’t think I’m that unlucky dude. I think it’s not my fault and I think I don’t deserve that. And I can’t wait to be on stage in Stockholm and prove everyone I’m right.
What do you think about these latest developments? Do you think that Romania really is in danger of being excluded from Eurovision 2016?
READ MORE ROMANIA EUROVISION NEWS HERE
Photo:TVR
OMFG. It happened :O
*extensive promotion, i mean.
i don’t know if this is real or not but anyway, Romania should participate this year, no matter what, it makes no sense to cut their participation all of a sudden, now that they made an expensive promotion and all that.
I think that they try to make an artificial hype. Sorry.
Aurelian, the hypotese that Romania could win this year :))))))))
i am still laughing
giorgio, why?
i think that EBU has another country who wants to pay more for the place Romania occupies . So they just did’nt had another reason to exclude her..
@adriana well that’s good to hear, and have you heard Ira live in London Eurovision Party, really a good vocal performance, and the crowd were loving it 🙂 i’m not worrying for the high note anymore, because what i love about her song, is the lower notes, she can really sing good in the lower parts of the song and i have more faith than last year in qualifying to the final, last year was nerve-wrecking for me, first with the song i was afraid Amber might not hit the high notes, and for me it was good, but a… Read more »
Nicky91 hey,yes im good
I hope Romania will participate. It’s an import contestant every year.
The only solution for this is that Tvr to be declared bankrupt and second option a private television to buy the rights to organize and broadcast the competition from next year.
Why don’t they just let them enter this year since Romania spent money on selecting a singer and all that stuff! If anything, don’t let them enter 2017 and tell them that BEFORE they choose their song!
Aurelian you made me laugh
@georgekirkas
i agree, and i also like Romania, they bring so much passion to eurovision 🙂 🙂
I don’t think that they will exclude Romania, it’s to near to the contest and this would make a bad impact both on contestant and the contest. But, right now it seems that this could be the last participation of Romania in the next couple of years. If there was a risk to not accept Romania in the contest, this should have been said before the they were confirmed and especially before the Selectia Nationala. The only thing that can really be a big problem for a future sanction from EBU is if Romania wins Eurovision this year. That would… Read more »
Exclude them next year if necessasry, but let them take part in Stockholm.
I will be really sad if Romania doesn’t participate this year, because Ovidiu will not have the chance to represent his country anymore and because TVR has already spent much money on their national selection! I think that the EBU should have warned them from the beginning!
the ratings it makes will never pay 10 mill, wisest thing is probably withdraw, go bankrupt and try to rebuild a national television from scratch
@adriana
hi my good friend, and well i like Romania 🙂
How did they manage to get to 10 million in debt ????
Europe is such a messed up place… unfortunately many European countries are living a bad moment and can’t really fulfill the requirememts for being an economically competitive country as the European Union asks… I hope for Romania to be able to participate, this year and in the future
I’m saddened at the comments here. Ovidiu should be able to participate and represent his country regardless of TVR’s financial situation as he fairly won the right to represent his country at ESC. For him to take time out of his life to prepare and promote his song, regardless of how good or bad it might be, only to be told just over 3 weeks before the contest that he can’t even participate is sad. Shame on those who think he doesn’t deserve to compete just because he doesn’t have a good song.
@lol
Did you read the report? Up near the top of this page, it explains the situation.
Don’t think they’ll stop him from participating. They paid the 2016 fee and picked a representative etc, and especially since it’s so close to the contest it would be stupid to disqualify Romania from the contest this year. I imagine this is probably something that will happen in 2017 if the debt doesn’t get any lower, which is sad because Romania is one of the best Balkan countries in the contest.
This would be terrible for Ovidiu because he is not involved with the problems and he could be stopped from performing. Money shouldn’t effect his performance.
not sure who’s to blame. 8 years without paying the debt is too much. on the other hand, EBU shouldn’t take their participation fee if they knew they would disqualify romania later.
australia should prove their europeaness by helping a bro’s out.
From what i read on Romania Eurovision Facebook page ,seems like they are only rumours made by Tvr as a tactic to get the Goverment involved in their debts.Nothing oficial has been released by EBU .
Clue me in on this one: The EBU just sent Romania this warning AFTER they went through the trouble of holding a contest to choose this year’s contender to represent them (which costs money to do)? Not very sporty of them to throw the monkey wrench at them, this close to the contest. Are they really going to force TVR to tell Ovi that he will not be allowed to take the stage in Stockholm because of a situation that is not his fault? I wouldn’t be surprised if that doesn’t sit well with a few other countries in this… Read more »
If Romania is cut off now that is just cruel, especially after they staged an NF and paid for Ovidiu’s promotion. Perhaps I’m biased in favour of TVR as one of the few fans of the song, but still, it seems cruel. And dumb, given that Romania still take the contest seriously and alienating them would just turn them away.
So the title of the song was a premonition. 😀
Some of you here clearly have a problem with Romania ,just by reading 2 of the coments.Get over it.
It would actually be good. It would even up the semis’ – both with 18 acts.
They should exclude Australia in stead of a EUROPEAN country!!!!!!!
They will be last or almost last anyway. Maybe this is why they ending up sending this song – to make sure they will not host next year. They had some potential top 10 songs in the selection.
No problem, Azerbuyjan can take care of it. Don’t be surprised by romanian 12 points to land of cheaters.
The word “compromise” and “payments” weren’t used here so the EBU must want that money.
Thats very sad news,Ovidiu seems like a really nice guy…Why EBU punish the singer for TVR problems.This shows that EBU is a bunch of @@@@@@@.Anyway my advice to Romania is that a private channel could buy the EBU rights ,if the national television is in colapse ,the best way to save Romania from windraw is that a private television could buy the rights for EBU,or that is a rule we dont know yet?
Very sad news. Ovi’s team put in all this work all these months, it would be unfair to punish them for their broadcaster’s problems. The EBU needs to have some compassion for once. Let Romania get through this year’s contest and handle this issue afterwards.
“Money, money, money. Must be funny. In a rich man’s world.”
let’s just say i wouldn’t be mad
moldova and romania tend to send some weird stuff to the esc every year
their absence might not be that horrible
How stupid to spring this now. Dont axe them now that they have a performer and screw him over. Just tell em pay up by September or you wont do 2017. You wanna hurt the broadcaster not the performer
So this is why they have sent a terrible song this year…the budget. On a serious note though, this is terrible! Poor TVR and poor Romania. So late in the day with just 2-3 weeks until Eurovision and all of that promotion that Ovidiu has done in the past few days. If this has been an underlying issue for years, why has the EBU only come in now? Why was Romania allowed to chose a participant if the EBU was going to start hounding them for money? Romania’s song isn’t strong and shouldn’t qualify but that shouldn’t stop them from… Read more »
He’s such a good guy!