All hope is not lost for Ovidiu Anton, Romania’s representative who got booted from of the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Leading private TV station ProTV has announced in a press conference this morning that they sent an open letter to the EBU, asking the broadcasting union to reconsider the decision to expel Romania from the contest.
ProTV CEO Alexandras Cesnavicius and singer Ovidiu Anton held a press conference this morning, announcing their joint efforts to find a solution so that Romania should participate in Eurovision this year.
Despite the fact that ProTV is not a member of the EBU and that the stage of preparations for this year’s contest is very advanced, with the rehearsals set to kick off in less than a week, the TV station submitted an open letter to Ingrid Deltenre, General Director of the European Broadcasting Union, asking her institution to reconsider its decision, allowing ProTV to air the show for the Romanian viewers and support Ovidiu’s participation.
The Romanian viewers chose Ovidiu Anton to represent their country in Stockholm, and his performance was highly anticipated by the entire population. “Moment of Silence” speaks about the importance of a fair and impartial political system, a current issue that is present in Romanians’ fight against corruption. The exclusion from the competition in Stockholm, for reasons not related to Ovidiu Anton or with Romania’s participation in general, is a big disappointment for Ovidiu and his supporters, after all his efforts to reach this stage.
ProTV is ready to offer Romanians and Ovidiu the possibility to be part of this European contest. We are calling on you to find together a fast and practical solution to support Ovidiu’s participation in the event in Stockholm and to continue the Eurovision tradition in Romania.
The channel also launched an online petition asking for Romanians’ support for this cause. Within hours, ore than 3,000 people had signed it.
Although it is unlikely at this stage that the EBU would budge, especially taking into account that ProTV is not a member of the broadcasting union, this development has fired up the Romanian Eurovision fans’ hopes that their country could be allowed back into the contest.
Earlier this week, Ovidiu Anton turned down Moldova’s offer to have him perform “Falling Stars” as a duet with Lidia Isac. Last week, he said that he was considering legal action for damages brought to his image.
What do you think? Should the EBU make an exception and allow Ovidiu and Romania back into the contest, backed by ProTV? Or is it too late?
Watch our video coverage of Ovidiu Anton
Photo: Hotnews.ro
I can certainly see the broadcast happening, but participation? How will this other channel throw together a delegation, jury, voting infrastructure etc. in two weeks? I just don’t think it’s feasible at this late date – even ignoring the fact that ProTV isn’t eligible (which you can do, since SBS Australia isn’t either). “the debts are related mostly with sports Events,nothing to do with Eurovision” The sports were ON Eurovision. Don’t confuse Eurovision (the television network of the EBU) with “The Eurovision Song Contest”. Even though many fans use the term “Eurovision” to refer to the contest, they are actually… Read more »
If Bogdan dint make it clear guys,just so you know ,Romania has no debts at Eurovision they always paid on time,the debts are related mostly with sports Events,nothing to do with Eurovision.
1. Online petitions are useless.
2. Open letter won’t be taken seriously since ProTV is not an EBU member
3. As much as I want them to take part, people should stop trying to force romania’s participation. Yeah it s not a good timing by EBU but thats the final decision, like it or not.
well considering greece’s nerit wasn’t a state broadcaster in 2014…
I think a lot of people need to pull their head out and accept the fact that Romania won’t be participating this year. TVR owes a lot of money to the EBU. EBU gave TVR a deadline. They didn’t pay, they got expelled. Would you have a sook if you were taken to court by Debt Collectors? You don’t pay on time, there will be consequences. Besides, “Moment Of Silence” was one of the worst entries Romania has sent to the contest as of late. I’m glad they won’t be participating this year. I’d rather a good song goes through,… Read more »
It would be weird to see Romania staying in the semi final after this scandal(if EBU says “yes” of course)
Well Greece was allowed to participate in 2014(?) with a broadcaster not in the EBU, so I hope the same can be done for Romania. I mean, come on, all Ovidiu wants to do is represent his country
Bonsoir Stockholm,
I hope they will find a solution. The rules are the rules but these can be changed sometimes to accept a country from southern hemisphere twice consecutively. Ovidiu Anton deserves to participate, he puts his soul into this song. Don’t give up, fight for the truth. What’s the pressure ? Say yé yé yé, Nessun grado di separazione, come together…
Bises,
Maxime
This is the response from the Protv Boss to a Romanian eurofan:
Aleksandras Cesnavicius ( CEO ProTV):
“No news yet. They try to ignore us. But we created noise in international media today. So lets continue pushing. This was a starting point.”
It’s a nice gesture, but it won’t fly because TVR (Romania) owes so much money to the EBU. Until that issue is resolved, I cannot see this proposal going anywhere, unfortunately. I believe Romanian ESC fans will have to wait till 2017. Also, ProTV needs to be a member of the EBU to be to broadcast and send a rep. Sorry, Romania! 🙁
@Lady Gaga: I’m not being sentimental, yet I find it laughable that the EBU is being so awful with Romania, when they’ve done nothing against the regular cheating/bribing from Azerbaijan or the anti gay rules when Russia hosted Eurovision. Azerbaijan and Russia should have been a lesson for others too, but they’ve done NOTHING.
You want to be strict? Fine, but be strict with everyone. Not just with the channels that owe money, while the ones that pay are allowed to cheat and do all the sh*t they want.
I really hope Ovidiu gets a chance to represent his country with this great song. If he can’t participate, I hope he can perform in the semi / final. He was treated unfairly, and deserve this chance.
I hope many people will sign this petition
http://www.petitieonline.com/eurovision_2016_in_romania
This is ProTV PR. There’s NO WAY this seeing the light of the day. So, enough PR.
If it wasn’t too late to withdraw Romania at that point, what would it be too late to reaccept it now?! If it was not important that Romania was member of the contest at the time of withdrawal, why would it matter that PRO TV is not a member of EBU?! It is unlikely, as Wiwibloggs says, to happen, well they’ve also said that it is unlikely to get disqualified. I don’t see any reason to not happen, let’s see if EBU is in the spirit of the contest.
If the EBU can handle the logistics of kicking out a contestant three weeks before the show, then they can handle adding him back in. If a broadcaster who is only an associate member can broadcast and participate then they should let ProTV at least broadcast the show as long as they pay the fee.
To my understanding, any other romanian broadcaster who wanted to broadcast and or participate, this or the next year, wouldn’t have to pay any debt, because those 13 million are owed by TVR, not the whole of the country.
I think with ProTV will be problem, because the channel isn´t member of EBU. In this moment … it´s in my opinion to late.
You know – EBU have more member brodcaster in same countries: Ireland not only RTE – just TG4, Norway: NRK and TV2 NO, Sweden: SVT and TV4, UK: BBC + ITV + Channel4 + S4C, Denmark: DR and TV2 DK … this channels can participate on EBU events.
Maybe next year this private channel will be member of EBU or asociate members and send romania singer to Eurovision instead TVR if they not pay money to EBU.
Again, the sentimental fans are missing the point again. Romania should pay all it’s debt first as it is unfair to other countries who actually pay. Is Protv paying the full debt? If they are, fine. But i doubt it. People bringing up Australia on the discussion don’t understand that EBU needs revenue streams, and SBS is willing to pay & have viewership figured that add to the contest’s popularity. You people don’t realize that if EBU loses so much money because of countries’ debts, then we will have no contest at all. Let Romania be a lesson to otherd… Read more »
If they participate now, they would surely qualify because of all the publicity and support. Whereas it was an almost certain non-qualifier just a week ago.
Way too late; they should have stepped in the day after, not a week before.
The EBU did the right thing at the right time. That’s the logic of debt, you punish default when it hurts the most, or else, you lose credibility as a creditor. That’s the way it works with all kinds of credit. Had they banned Romania’s participation for 2017 after the 2016 contest, there wouldn’t be as much political cost for TVR in Romania, only fans would care. By punishing Romania on the last minute, many more people in Romania care, and now this is part of the public discussion. It is in the longer term interest of both romanian audiences… Read more »
@Mark
I agree with you, this would be the best solution to the problem. However, I wouldn’t be sad if the EBU allows Romania to participate in this year’s contest.
I thought he’s already sick with Eurovision
The least they could do is let ProTV broadcast the show. There is an obvious implication from this private channel and if they aren’t allowed to handle Romania’s participation this year, then they’ll obviously try for next year. It’s only fair this way.
They should have just petitioned for Ovidiu to perform at Eurovision, not the country, they’re not going to let Romania back in after all that debt.
Ovidiu at ESC 2016!! Because Romania paied the participation tax to ESC. Because the debts are old. And this decision should be make before or after ESC 2016. Because others tv want to pay the debts. Because is unfair for Ovidiu.
@Danny: if Romania doesn’t broadcast the contest this year, it will not be eligible to participate in 2017 :((.
EBU should at the very least let PRO TV broadcast the three shows and Ovidiu perform as a guest act, I think it’ll be hard to let him enter the competition again
I’m not sure at this stage that it is even possible to let Ovidiu perform (from a logistical point of view), but at least they could let PRO TV broadcast the shows…
Give up on this horrible entry! This song is a parody on god knows what, and it’s not even funny. Pay the debt, choose a normal song and come back next year.
I think it would be unfair for countries that actually pay their fees to participate. It would be nice to see him as a guest performer in his SF though.
* oops, that “possible” is obviously unnecessary 🙂
Not sure about this to be honest. Would ProTV be able to pay this year’s participation fee? To me it just seems like nobody sees the actual problem, which is TVR, not the EBU. Of course the EBU screwed it up regarding the timing of their decision, but the real one to blame here is TVR and in my opinion they should rather start working on changing something and making a return ASAP possible (either ProTV on its own or collaborating with TVR). Still, if the EBU approved of the idea, I’d be happy for Romania of course. It’s not… Read more »
@Daniel
”Sweden has participated at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 11 times since its inception in 2003. Two broadcasters have been responsible for Sweden’s entries at Junior Eurovision – from 2003 to 2005 Sveriges Television (SVT) was responsible, before withdrawing with other Nordic broadcasters. From 2006 to 2009, commercial broadcaster TV4 was responsible for Sweden’s entry at the Junior Eurovision.”
JESC and ESC, they are kinda the same thing, right?
while we are at it can we send margaret to represent poland?
come on… just forget about it. unless protv pays all that outstanding first, then sure.
Interesting… let’s see how this develops
TV 4 has never handled ESC in Sweden.
If Protv takes over from Tvr in the future i can see big shows coming from them.Protv is a huge chanel and financially they are solid.
EBU should say yes.No excuses if they say no.
There’s no chance the EBU will allow this, unfortunately. Getting hopes up to see Ovidiu in 2016 feels like a mistake because they’re going to be dashed again. However, this does provide a potential path for a Romanian entry in Eurovision 2017, which was otherwise looking extremely unlikely. I agree that selecting Ovidiu internally for this would be the correct and noble thing to do, but I also cannot see Ovidiu agreeing, given his statements he’s done with ESC. Maybe a few months might change his mind, but we shall see. Either way, this is hope for 2017, but not… Read more »
I hope so. Ovidiu deserves it!
They really should agree to this, considering the fact that they’ve entered Australia for a ‘one-off’ participation which ended to be a regular one (A dreaded move from the EBU), and if they did so to a non-participating broadcaster out of Europe, I sure they can enter poor Ovidiu to perform in Stockholm, becasue they took him off in the last minute, even if only the EBU will enjoy profits from Romanian votes and even if Romania won’t vote, just let the poor guy participate.
+Besides this would be a very big accomplishment for all but TVR as it follows: Romania, ProTV, EBU, ESC, esc fans everyone 🙁
in the past there were also private televisions that were handling eurovision from Sweden (TV4), Hungary (Duna when it was private), Greece and China is broadcasting ESC from a private television aswell this year so i don.t see a reason why they wouldn.t accept……
No. But If/When Romania has paid all it debts and are allowed back into the contest then they should have an internal selection and send Ovidiu. They could possibly send him with an even better song.
Damn, I really hope they get to do it.
I hope they will say YES in the end, they broke so many rules bringing Australia in the contest ”just for the anniversary edition” and yet they can.t do anything regarding A EUROPEAN COUNTRY