Dutch pull out of Eurovision Song Festival due to Israel - DutchNews.nl
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The Netherlands will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest following the decision by organiser EBU not to exclude Israel. Public broadcasting company NPO said no other broadcaster will step in to send a Dutch entry after AvroTros’s withdrawal, although it will ensure the contest is still broadcast for Dutch viewers. European public broadcasters met at the EBU headquarters in Geneva to discuss the future of Eurovision on Thursday. AvroTros, together with broadcasters from Ireland, Iceland, Spain and...

The Netherlands will not take part in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest following the decision by organiser EBU not to exclude Israel.

Public broadcasting company NPO said no other broadcaster will step in to send a Dutch entry after AvroTros’s withdrawal, although it will ensure the contest is still broadcast for Dutch viewers.

European public broadcasters met at the EBU headquarters in Geneva to discuss the future of Eurovision on Thursday. AvroTros, together with broadcasters from Ireland, Iceland, Spain and Slovenia, had argued that Israel’s public broadcaster should be barred because of the war in Gaza.

AvroTros also said the Israeli government had used the contest as a “political instrument”, pointing to a government-run promotional campaign for the country’s entry.

  • BakerBagel@midwest.social
    7·
    19 hours ago

    Avrotros will not be broadcasting it, a separate branch of the NPO will broadcast it on a much less prominent channel. The broadcasting and performance rights for the EBU and especially Eurovision a very complicated.

    In the UK, the BBC is responsible for sending contestants and broadcasting Eurovision. But if tomorrow they decided they do not want to participate or broadcast it, SKY or another major British TV network/EBU member would likely take the broadcast since it would be little effort on their part, but they would not have the tome or resources to send a contestant due to the short turn around.