CONTEXT
Eurovision’s Tailor-made Services are dedicated, custom-made projects designed to meet the precise requirements
of a particular broadcaster or a restricted number of broadcasters. Typically, this is an event of great
interest to the customer; such as an overseas tour of their political leaders or other major national figures.
We asked our Moscow bureau to give two recent examples of Tailor-made Services: Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev’s visit to Mongolia and his August summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi, Russia.
These are excellent examples of Eurovision’s ability to meet precise customer needs for a specific news event.

President Medvedev’s Visit to Mongolia, August 25 and 26, 2009

Less than four months after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s quick trip to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar,
the Russian president traveled to Mongolia for an official two-day visit. The visit was timed to
commemorate the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, where Soviet and Mongolian troops defeated the Japanese army
in the undeclared Soviet-Japanese border war of 1939. Medvedev’s visit was also intended to accelerate plans
for joint projects between Moscow and Ulaanbaatar, including uranium, copper, coal and iron mining plus
agricultural trade.

STATISTICS
> Two-day event
> 25 transmissions
> Five Russian broadcasters
> Transmissions from the MCR of Mongolia Public TV Broadcaster

“Producing news events and coordinating transmissions from Ulaanbaatar -- via Abu Dhabi -- to Moscow makes you realize how truly global the Eurovision network has become. Tailor-made solutions stretch us in new ways and it’s always exciting to work on operations like these.” — Margarita Noskovitch, Eurovision News Producer

German Chancellor Merkel’s Bilateral Summit with President Medvedev, August 14, 2009

The Moscow bureau also worked on a tailor-made operation for four German broadcasters covering
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s meeting with President Medvedev. The meeting was held in the Russian
seaside resort of Sochi, host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Topping the agenda were discussions about a Russian takeover of the insolvent Opel automobile plants,
Wadan shipyards, and Infineon-Qimonda semiconductor producers in Germany, as well as ambitious
projects in the nuclear power industry and natural gas supplies.

Eurovision worked with the German broadcasters to provide the tailor-made coverage of the meeting.

STATISTICS
> One-day event
> 19 transmissions
> 4 broadcasters
> 1 SNG

“It is becoming a tradition for Eurovision Moscow to set up broadcast and transmission facilities at the summer residence of the Russian President for exclusive usage by the German broadcasters. This requires us to send all the equipment and also all the staff from Moscow to Sochi -- a trek of nearly 1700km over roads congested by thousands and thousands of Russian holiday-makers!

“As soon as we got to Sochi, the satellite engineers were asked to deploy in the vicinity of the press hotel to transmit a unilateral. It went on like that for the entire day, as German interest in Mrs. Merkel’s visit with Medvedev was understandably very high back home in Germany.

“It is always nerve-wracking trying to get set up like that because you first have to make it through all of the presidential holiday compound security check points and any delay in the procedure – for any reason – can jeopardize those first transmissions. That’s why at Eurovision we make sure we’re the first in line! We’ll get there at six in the morning for a first transmission at two in the afternoon. It’s taking an approach like that that distinguishes Eurovision.” — Dimitri Zakharychev, Eurovision Engineer/Producer

“Since 2004, Eurovision has been the exclusive partner for Russian broadcasters covering foreign trips by the President and the Prime Minister. For me, this partnership has involved travel to literally all the world’s continents and dozens of exciting places, including Turkey, Qatar, South Korea and now Mongolia. At the same time, these assignments always make me nervous: knowing that the successful functioning of all the Russian news broadcasts on those particular days depend – at least partially – on our work is really daunting. And proximity to the presidential and prime ministerial press services adds its fair share of adrenalin, believe me!

“This operation was very challenging from the start. Producing an event in Mongolia without the luxury of a site survey, with only a few contact telephone numbers and e-mail addresses and with less than two weeks’ advance notice is not easy. Fortunately, most of my Mongolian contacts speak Russian and were just as anxious as we were to make the presidential visit a success.” — Dirk Verhulst, Eurovision Moscow Bureau Chief