The European Broadcasting Union signed a four-year distribution agreement with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under which it acquired TV and radio broadcast rights for a package of three classical concerts per year.
The first concert to be broadcast is the internationally popular New Year’s Concert from the famous Musikverein concert hall in Vienna. The VPO plays a different programme every year with works from the vast repertoire of the Johann Strauss family and its contemporaries under the baton of the world’s most prestigious conductors: Mariss Jansons (2012), Franz Welser-Möst (2011), Georges Prêtre (2010), Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
The New Year’s Concert is TV’s most watched annual classical music concert and every year achieves staggering market shares of between 30 and 40% in many European countries.
The second concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra package is the annual Summer Night Concert in the gardens of Schönbrunn Castle, Vienna. The New Year’s Concert and the Summer Night Concert are produced by Austrian public broadcaster ORF.
The third element in the package is a special concert relayed from different international locations each year (2009: Shanghai; 2010: Ljubljana; 2011: Madrid) hosted by various national public service TV broadcasters.
44 EBU Members have the opportunity to broadcast the concert including: Albania (RTSH), Andorra (RTVA), Azerbaijan (ITV), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (RTBF & VRT), Bosnia Herzegovina (BHRT), Bulgaria (BNT), Croatia (HRT), Cyprus (CYBC), Czech Republic (CT), Denmark (DR), Egypt (ERTU), Estonia (ERR), Finland (YLE), France (FR2), Georgia (GTVR), Germany (ZDF), Greece (ERT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RUV), Italy (RAI), Kosovo (RTK), Latvia (LTV), Lebanon (TL), Lithuania (LRT), Macedonia (MKRTV), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), Netherlands (NOS), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP2), Portugal (RTP), Romania (TVR), Russia (RTR), Serbia (RTS), Slovenia (RTVSLO), Spain (RTVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SF, TSI & TSR), Turkey (TRT) and UK (BBC).
