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Eurovision in the United States
As President Barack Obama celebrates his first year in office, Eurovision is there to provide the studios, standup positions and playout facilities which allow the world's journalists to report on what has changed in the US under the new administration.

As President Obama explains his health care proposals, Eurovision transmits the primetime address to more than 50 countries.

Eurovision in the United States
Eurovision Americas, Inc., headquartered in Washington DC, is the US arm of the European Broadcasting Union (the EBU). Working from a 24-hour newsroom and technical operations centre in the heart of Washington, with a second bureau in New York, Eurovision Americas provides a constant stream of news video to the major national broadcasters of more than 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Eurovision is also the biggest provider of broadcast facilities to international TV correspondents based in the United States.

Eurovision sets up satellite trucks and live camera positions at major news and sports events throughout the Americas, allowing foreign correspondents to feed tape and digital disks and report live into the news programmes in their home country. These transmission facilities are available to all broadcasters worldwide. Bookings, ranging from 10 minutes to several hours, are taken to coincide with the broadcasters’ news bulletins or special programmes, allowing correspondents from many countries to be rotated through the same live camera positions. This means that extensive international coverage of events in the US is provided using relatively few live positions.

Equipment installation for anchor positions with a view of the US Capitol


A year on from an historic day
Eurovision is providing extensive facilities to allow international reporting of the first anniversary of President Obama’s inauguration. Eurovision’s newsroom in Washington DC is supplying live and edited video of all the key moments as America remembers the day when more than a million people gathered in Washington to see their first African-American President take office. That event a year ago shattered all records for international coverage of a Presidential inauguration: Eurovision had a total of 23 camera positions around Washington and almost 40 simultaneous circuits to Europe. In all, 500 international feeds were completed.

For coverage of the first anniversary, Eurovision has a live camera position on the White House north lawn alongside the US networks, and has further live positions available on a rooftop with a view over the White House. Eurovision also operates four studios with greenscreen backgrounds into which a live shot of the White House is electronically keyed behind correspondents. These facilities are in heavy demand throughout the year to allow worldwide coverage of the administration’s actions 24 hours a day.

A historic moment as President Obama takes the oath of office.


The US President's first year
A year that began with celebration ended with tragedy. As President Obama laid out plans for an extensive US response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, his words were transmitted live to the international community by Eurovision and its member broadcasters in more than 50 key countries.

Throughout the year, at home and abroad, Eurovision has provided facilities to allow international broadcasters to cover the developing policies of the new White House administration. From his visits to Europe and the Middle East, to his major initiatives at home, Eurovision has been there all the way. As health care reform came to dominate the domestic agenda, Eurovision Americas provided live feeds of the President's primetime news conferences and address to Congress, as well as covering every angle in the developing debate.

The Danish Prime Minister is interviewed live from Copenhagen at Eurovision's UN camera positions

In September, as the President made his first address to the United Nations as Head of State, coupled with a climate conference and the chairing of the Security Council, Eurovision had seven live camera positions outside the UN building in New York, all being sent by fibre and satellite around the world. The same week, a second operation was set up at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh to which the President and other world leaders migrated immediately after the U.N. Eurovision was part of an international pool in Pittsburgh which ensured that all the key moments of the Summit were covered and made available to international correspondents at the venue and transmitted worldwide.

Meanwhile as the President flew around the globe to offer his vision for US foreign policy, Eurovision's teams were in place to provide facilities in London, Paris, Ankara, Cairo, Moscow and many more locations to satisfy the intense interest in how the new White House saw its relationship with the rest of the world.

The BBC reports from Eurovision's live camera positions at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh


And not just politics
All the major news events of the year have been covered by the Eurovision team, including the death of Michael Jackson, the economic crisis, the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, the 9/11 anniversary, Olympic disappointment in Chicago and many more.

In Haiti, an extensive operation has been mounted to provide satellite facilities in the capital Port-au-Prince to cover the aftermath of the earthquake. A tragedy on this scale, with the intense international interest it brings, presents huge logistical and communications difficulties. Eurovision set up satellite dishes and camera positions in Port-au-Prince to ensure that international correspondents were able to get news of the unfolding tragedy around the world, as well as report on the aid operation mounted by numerous countries.

As well as news coverage, Eurovision is the leading international distributor of US sports events in high-definition, including NHL hockey, NBA basketball, MLB baseball and the PGA golf tour. Eurovision also brings into the United States live feeds of English and Italian soccer, Formula 1 racing and many other sports, which are directly transmitted by the US rightsholders of these events, including the Fox sports networks, Speed Channel and NBC Universal Sports.

Eurovision has had a presence in the United States since the 1970s, and its parent organization, the European Broadcasting Union, has existed since the 1950s. Eurovision's American operation has been headquartered at its current premises on M Street in Washington since 2001. Its New York bureau is co-located with CBS in midtown Manhattan, and there is a fibre hub in Los Angeles. A major technical upgrade of Eurovision's headquarters is scheduled for the spring of 2010 to ensure that Eurovision retains its position as the premier provider of broadcast services to and from the United States for many years into the future.

Eurovision Washington's technical operations center, from where signals are routed worldwide

Eurovision: providing comprehensive broadcast services from the United States to a worldwide audience.