Finally the saga has come to an end. Eurovision 2019 host broadcaster KAN has confirmed that it will pay the €12 million security deposit to the EBU. This ensures that Israel will retain the right to host the 2019 edition of the song contest.
KAN’s confirmation ends almost a month of drama. The central players were broadcaster KAN and the Israeli government. KAN wanted the government to fund the deposit, while the government said the broadcaster had the budget to cover it.
But after days of intense negotiations, the two parties have come to an agreement.
KAN will pay the €12 million security deposit. However, in the chance that Eurovision 2019 cannot be held in Israel due to circumstances not caused by KAN (such as war, natural disaster or political pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement) and KAN loses the deposit, the Ministry of Finance will be available to cover the loss.
While KAN has not given further details of the arrangement, yesterday Israeli media reported speculation that KAN would take out a loan to pay the deposit and the government would ensure the loan would be repaid if the deposit was lost.
To Tel Aviv?
Meanwhile, speculation has intensified over the host city for the song contest. While the official announcement is not expected until September, Israeli media is speculating that it will be held in Tel Aviv.
Newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth yesterday posted on Facebook that “Eurovision is in Tel Aviv. The preferred locations, right now: the Fairgrounds”.
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Posted by ??????? ??????? Yedioth Ahronoth? on Tuesday, August 14, 2018
While Eilat, Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are all in the running to host Eurovision 2019, in recent weeks buzz has started to emerge around Tel Aviv being the chosen location.
Israel’s second most populous city boasts a stunning Mediterranean coastline and attracts more than 2.5 million international travellers every year. They stay at hotels at every price point — from hostels to über luxe — and enjoy some of the wildest nightlife in all of the Middle East. We’re huge fans of the city and have attended the last three editions of Israel Calling.
The most likely location would be Pavillon 2 at The Tel Aviv Convention Center (also known as the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds), which can hold around 10,000.
Tel Aviv has come out in news reports as the favoured city, with Ministry of Finance officials saying it would be the most economically viable option.
It is also considered a better cultural fit for hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. Members of the Jerusalem’s Ultra-Orthodox community have demanded that officials avoid rehearsals during Shabbat, which lasts from Friday evening until Saturday evening — a demand that would interfere with the grand final jury show.
But with the security deposit drama over, contest organisers can now get on with deciding on the host city.
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Please dear Israel, no Florian Wieder this year. No one wants to see a circular stage with a led backdrop AGAIN. Bring something new to the table
I think they should place a bid for set design, and may the best one win. I don’t see why it has to be the same guy designing every year. He’s good but there are thousands of other designers out there.
Hopefully, that’s an end to the drama
Surely the religious demands apply to tel Aviv as well as Jerusalem? They are both Jewish/Israeli, part of the broader holy land.
My understanding is that the ultra-orthodox are in Jerusalem, and while they wouldn’t be thrilled about Tel Aviv, at least its not in their own back yard. Tel Aviv is more liberal.
No, they don’t. Jerusalem has a very large Orthodox community, which means enough seats in the city council, which means a lot of political power to enforce their kooky beliefs. That is not the case in any other major city in Israel, and so Sabbath is not an issue anywhere else other than Jerusalem and some other smaller orthodox towns. In fact, Jerusalem has many sportive and cultural events on Sabbath every week and the Orthodox politicians comply with it, it’s just that the ESC is attracting a lot of attention so they decided to flex their muscles and put… Read more »
Hallelujah!
Why do local media reports spoil the surprise?
It’s not a surprise when the other options are just ridiculous. The EBU will never pick Jerusalem because of religious and political problems. Eilat doesn’t have a venue and came up with a laughable idea and renders that were made by a 12 yo student. So Tel Aviv is pretty much the only option left.
Why do the EBU get to decide? It should be up to KAN, and with the EBU bigwigs just rubber-stamping it.
The “Eurovision Song Contest” is a brand owned by the EBU. The hosting broadcaster is a producer of the show, but only under the management of the EBU. In other words, they own that sh*t and therefore they make the major decisions. Whoever doesn’t like it, may give up hosting. It is not mandatory.
I’m aware of that, but it seems that in recent years the EBU have been taking back more and more control from the host broadcasters…it is now a co-production. Up to the 21st Century, host broadcasters had a lot more free reign with almost every aspect of the contest (host city, logo, staging, venue, budget etc.) – now it is much more in the cookie cutter mould – the host broadcaster is expected to follow the EBU’s formula down to almost the last detail. It makes for very similar contests every year. The host broadcaster still is the one who… Read more »
Haifa is still in the running? I thought that they cancelled their bid. The contest has to take place in Tel Aviv anyway.
Haifa is out unfortunately, and it was never really been considered imo.
Fingers crossed for Tel Aviv. By far, the most suitable Israeli host city.
another year another drama. I kinda wanted BBC to host cause that would be a chance to have a good show and to increase interest in the british public, but israel won and they should host. Lets hope everything will run smoothly fron now on…
As far as I remember there was no drama last year…
Last year the pre-show drama was the no-LEDs thing.
Probably this year there will be no LEDs either, they consume a lot of fuel and the absence of them is the main reason why 2018 had a budget of only 23 million euros
So you say the thousands of light fixtures that were used last year consumed less “fuel”? Sound like a total nonsense.
It isn’t me that is saying it, it was Ola Melzig in an interview to EventElevator.
I guarantee to you that Israel will have LEDs. We use LEDs in every TV show and musical production I can think of.
What makes you so sure the BBC would do such a great job? There is a Tory government breathing down their necks so they would be unlikely to put on the hugely expensive razzle dazzle LED extravaganza you seem to be dreaming of.
As a Brit I feel it could be the opposite. As the BBC will benefit from all the attention and since the Conservatives have (kinda) succeeded in their goal of reducing the budget deficit they could see it as another project *cough* HS2 *cough* to throw money at since we are hosting the commonwealth games and maybe the 2032 world cup. It looks a success when watched live so…