Romania may not participate in Eurovision this year due to public television's debt

Romania might not participate in the 2016 Eurovision song contest as the Romanian public television TVR accumulated a large debt to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). According to a statement of TVR, EBU representatives told the Romanian television that, because the debts TVR accumulated to EBU in the last eight years, Romania might not be accepted to this year’s Eurovision, reports local Agerpres. Moreover, TVR might also not receive satellite signal to broadcast the competition. TVR has EUR 10 million debts to EBU, most of them from the 2001-2012 period. “So far, TVR has paid the debts for the 2008-2012 period. The last payment of EUR 250,000 was made in January, and then TVR announced the international organization that it can no longer make these payments,” reads the TVR statement. EBU is now waiting for a point of view of those to which it had addressed in recent months, such as the Parliament, the Government, and the Ministry of Finance, according to TVR. When it comes to Eurovision, TVR said that the registration fee was paid on time. It also added that it would continue to take all the necessary steps to take Romania to Eurovision and to broadcast the competition. Eurovision 2016 will be held in Stockholm on May 10, 12 and 14. Ovidiu Anton was voted this March to represent Romania at the contest, with the song Moment of Silence. The Romanian television is in a really bad financial situation. According to a report submitted to the Parliament, the television recorded losses of over RON 24 million (EUR 5.3 mln) last year. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com