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Eurovision organizers fine Ukraine for failing to adequately fulfil obligations

Senior Communications Officer of the European Broadcasting Union Dave Goodman declined to announce the amount of the fine

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

GENEVA, June 29. /TASS/. The Eurovision Song Contest’s steering committee, the ESC Reference Group, has informed Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company (UA:PBC) about fining it for failing to adequately fulfil its obligations, Senior Communications Officer of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Dave Goodman told TASS on Thursday.

"The Contest's steering committee, the ESC Reference Group, has recommended that UA:PBC should receive a substantial fine, in line with the rules of the competition," he said. At the same time, Goodman declined to announce the amount of the fine.

"The decision was taken by the Reference Group," he pointed out adding that "this decision has been given to the broadcaster".

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According to the EBU senior communications officer, "there is an appeal procedure in line with the rules of the competition." "The appeal could be sent to the EBU," he noted.

When asked how long could it take the EBU to consider the appeal, he said that "we won’t comment on that, it is internal procedure."

Earlier on Thursday, Goodman told TASS that the ESC Reference Group had recommended to fine Ukraine’s National Public Broadcasting Company. "The organization of the competition… was subject to severe delays which created unnecessary difficulties for the production. Additionally, the Host Broadcaster failed to adequately fulfil its obligations with regards to cooperating with the EBU over the participation of the Russian artist," Goodman pointed out.

"As a result of this, attention was drawn away from the competition and the brand reputation of the Eurovision Song Contest was endangered. Therefore the Contest's steering committee, the ESC Reference Group, has recommended that UA:PBC should receive a substantial fine, in line with the rules of the competition," he added.

"Following speculation regarding sanctions against Russian EBU Member, Channel One, who withdrew from the competition and did not broadcast the live shows, the ESC Reference Group has recommended that there should be no further action brought against the broadcaster at this time," Goodman said.

"However, the Reference Group has reprimanded Channel One for not attending the obligatory Heads of Delegation meeting in Kyiv in March and for not broadcasting the live shows. The Reference Group felt that those breaches of the competition's rules were offset by the fact that the Russian artist was not allowed access to participate in Ukraine."

2017 Eurovision Song Contest

Ukraine’s capital of Kiev hosted the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on May 9-13. The contest involved as many as 42 countries. However, Russian contestant Yulia Samoilova could not participate as the Ukrainian Security Council (SBU) had issued a three-year travel ban against her, citing her performance in Crimea on June 27, 2015. Following the ban, Russia’s Channel One cancelled the contest broadcast.

Salvador Sobral, who represented Portugal, won the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. The 27-year-old singer performed a song called Amar Pelos Dois (or Love for two), written by his sister.

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