Eurovision Media Services (EMS) – the business arm of the European Broadcasting Union – will offer comprehensive services for the upcoming visit of Pope Francis to Geneva, Switzerland.

From national elections to the World Economic Forum, the G7 and the UK's royal wedding, EMS has been at the forefront of many of this year’s key media events. It is now gearing up for Pope Francis’ visit, offering broadcasters a full range of media services to provide 360 coverage of the event to audiences around the world.

On 21 June 2018, Pope Francis will visit Geneva, Switzerland to meet with members of the Swiss government and attend a meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) before holding a mass at the Palexpo Convention Centre.

To cover this landmark event, EMS will provide a range of comprehensive services to media organisations, including: live stand up positions for programme inserts at both locations (WCC and the Palexpo Convention Centre), playout facilities, tailor-made production and transmission packages, contribution and multi-signal distribution of the video and audio signals from the Host Broadcaster (HB) RTS.

Together with RTS, EMS will manage the Press Centre and SNG logistics for the Mass at the Palexpo Conference Centre. This includes serving hundreds of journalists during the event and providing dedicated workspaces with TV and radio studios as well as workspaces with access to HB signals. For media organisations not present onsite, EMS will put in place its latest remote MCR solution which uses the Eurovision FLEX Portal to give access to content remotely.

"We're known for managing top international events which are often complex, take place in multiple locations and require experienced producers as well as a wide range of facilities to make each event a success.

“I'm pleased that, in addition to coordinating and providing transmissions, we will also be involved in managing the content. Our digital services help media organisations to produce and deliver stories to their audiences and editorial outlets, such as web, social media or the newsroom," said Michele Gosetti, Head of Global Sales at EMS. 

The international signal will be free of rights and free of charge across the Eurovision Global Network and made available free of rights and free of charge through our Eurovision WorldFeed service.

For more information on bookings, click here.