The 69th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is already underway in Basel, Switzerland, with the Grand Final taking place at the St. Jakobshalle indoor arena in the city on Saturday (17 May).
Eurovision Services (ES) is once again playing a pivotal role in the event, working alongside host broadcaster SRG SSR to deliver the musical extravaganza to an eagerly awaiting global audience.
While ES has a long history with the ESC, for PMO manager Mathieu Miraucourt, this is his first time working on the competition.
“I recently stepped in to support the show and I’m getting up to speed with its scope. Fortunately, the experienced team in place has delivered this event successfully for many years,” he explains.
The scope of the project is also the same as in previous years, with ES handling the worldwide distribution and producing the live voting element, co-ordinating 37 live feeds from participating members.
Miraucourt explains: “We have 37 incoming signals, and each of them must be switched in the right order at the right moment to feed the main OB when the voting results are announced by each participant. We have many ways to do this contribution, but it’s always redundant – we don’t do this transmission with a single delivery method. We combine internet plus fibre, or via internet plus satellite, or via fibre plus satellite, or sometimes we double the SRT delivery. We always have two delivery methods to do contribution from a local studio back to Basel.”
In Basel, ESC has multiple dishes and so is able to downlink straight from the location. “We also have fibres with diverse routing back to a Eurovision backbone, where are connected to our teleports, where we are also able to do the downlink for the contributions that are going through satellite,” he adds.
It’s a similar setup for the distribution with content distribution from the venue. “We are able to initiate distribution straight from the venue and also from our teleports and we also have disaster recovery scenarios. We multiply the delivery methods to mitigate all the risk,” he confirms.
The world feed remains in 1080i following a survey of EBU members in 2024 that showed this continued to be the preferred format.
“It’s because it’s public broadcasters and their main channels on terrestrial are still 1080i,” he says. “Usually they’re interested in Progressive when they have an OTT platform to feed, and they’re interested in UHD when they have a non-permanent channel to feed. While the show could technically be produced in 1080p or UHD, the current broadcaster requirements and preferences are for 1080i.”
NEP is once again on site, running the Technical Operations Centre (TOC) and providing the main and backup OBs. ES and NEP, alongside Riedel Communications, which provides infrastructure including intercoms, signal distribution and wireless communication systems to the event, have all been actively working with the host broadcaster to ensure a smooth production.
“NEP and Riedel, who are deeply involved on-site, bring extensive experience to the event and are working closely with the host broadcaster. While SRG is hosting the contest for the first time in decades, they are backed by trusted partners who know the production inside out,” he says.
Creative Technology Sweden is responsible for the technical installation and has once again created an impressive staging setup utilising LED panels, including on the floor of the stage.
For Miraucourt, who usually works on sporting events, the visual technology has been something of an eye opener.
He continues: “Having spent 25 years in the broadcast industry focused on sports, contributing to ESC has been a unique opportunity. The scale and visuals of the production are exceptional. The light show is stunning, all the LED screens that are creating the backdrops and the floor of the stage are something I’ve never seen before, all the special cameras and the way that it’s produced – you see technical solutions that you don’t see on sports.”
What is more for familiar to Miraucourt is the use of graphics. “There are some graphics and statistics when the votes are shared. All the points are counted and it refreshes in real time like during a sports event. So there are some similarities, but production wise it’s a great event.”
Given the political situation, security is a key concern across all aspects of the contest, and the broadcast is no different. Miraucourt is confident that all eventualities have been considered and plans put in place, however. “In terms of the transmission, we put in place several scenarios, not only a plan A or plan B, but from plan A to plan Z, to make sure that we can face most situations. We have scenario matching and proactive measures in place as well.”
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