More drama hits Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine: Who’ll pay for it?

Six months out, another drama has engulfed the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine. This is over a lack of funding for it.

Zurab Alasania, the Head of NTU, Ukraine’s national TV and radio company which is the competition’s broadcasting partner, has resigned in protest.

He says that the Government wants his company to take the Eurovision staging expense of Hr 450 million (1 Ukraine hryvnia = 0.051000 Australian dollar) out of its Hr 1.2 billion budget.

As it is Hr 250 million of the budget is taken in the form of the fee for broadcasting, Hr 149 million as expenses and Hr 46 million is taken by the city for utility services. Some Hr 112 million will go for international activities (Olympics, world cups and other contests) and the company has Hr 193 million left, Alasania said.

He told online newspaper Ukrainskaya Pradva, “Overcoming the resistance of bureaucrats is very difficult, and we didn’t complain until recently. But now we are just desperate. We wouldn’t be able to organize Eurovision in 2017.”

His resignation seems to be also influenced by the hardships faced over Government financing of National Public Television

Ukrainian Information Policy Minister Yuriy Stets, however, insists that finances for the Kiev meet will not come from the NTU’s budget, as that is legally intended for the development of public broadcasting.

“With regard to the Eurovision Song Contest, this is a one-off project. And this one-off project should be financed not from the funds allocated for financing public television,” he said.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the song contest, is aware of the situation and is trying to help sort out the situation.

A spokesperson said, “After winning this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, the NTU and the government of Ukraine made the necessary financial commitments to the EBU to become hosts of next year’s show, in line with usual protocol.

“However, since then, issues have arisen regarding access to those budgets that need to be resolved.”

The 2017 Song Contest is held on May 9, 11 and 13 in Kiev. The Ukraine won the right to host the event after the win of singer Jamala, whose singing about the deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 caused anger in Russia.

The funding issue is the latest controversy to dog the Ukraine’s involvement. Last month, the choice of the St. Sophia complex for the opening ceremony, and the International Exhibition Center for the actual contest also sparked outcries.

Religious leaders complained that the use of the grounds of Saint Sophia Cathedral was “a profanity” and “an outrageous manifestation of cultural ignorance.”