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News EBU members meet Covid-19 content challenge Twenty-five public service media organisations from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Member community have responded to an urgent TV content appeal by providing over 200 TV programmes, amounting to 1,300 hours of content, for use by all public service broadcasters. The EBU-facilitated appeal was launched following the disruption of production schedules and predictions of a crisis for the industry as a result of Covid-19. The EBU Member community has supplied rights-cleared programming across multiple genres, including drama, history, lifestyle, performing arts, education, and a range of programmes aimed at children. In the spirit of the emergency, there is no requirement for broadcasters to contribute content in order to access the programmes. “The speed with which Members have responded to the appeal is exceptional,” stated Matthew Trustram, the EBU’s head of TV. “As a result of their generosity, we have been able to make an impressive range of content available to wider audiences, plug gaps in schedules, and address that issue which all broadcasters dread – the potential for dead air. Our thanks to all our Members for their solidarity in these unprecedented times.” “There is an Irish word, ‘Meitheal’, which perfectly expresses the idea of a practical, inter-dependent community,” noted Roger Childs, senior production executive at RTÉ. “At its best, that is what the EBU is. As soon as lockdown measures started to be introduced, the EBU saw the likely impact of Covid-19 on production and future output across its 119 Members. With lightning speed, the scheme to share content freely was created and RTÉ was delighted to contribute significant amounts of fully cleared, high quality content. Soon, Irish audiences will also benefit from the richly diverse catalogue of other Members’ freely shared content.” “One of the pillars of the EBU is facilitating content opportunities for Members and ensuring that more broadcasters have access to the great content being made across Europe – to the benefit of audiences everywhere,” advised Jean Philip De Tender, EBU media director. “We never anticipated providing content in such challenging circumstances, but the collaboration, support and willingness of the Member community to join our appeal really underlines the values of public service media and all that we stand for.” The contributors to the content sharing scheme are: RTVE (Spain); BBC (UK); BBC Alba (UK); HRT (Croatia); MTVA (Hungary); TG4 Teilifis (Ireland); KRO-NCRV (Netherlands); Rai (Italy); RTR (Russia); TRT (Turkey); BHRT (Bosnia & Herzegovina); VRT (Belgium); BNT (Bulgaria); RSI (Switzerland); RTS (Switzerland); SRF (Switzerland); Yle (Finland); Latvijas Televīzija (Latvia); RTÉ (Ireland); NHK (Japan); SVT (Sweden); Swedish Education Broadcasting Co (Sweden); Public Broadcasting Services Ltd (Malta); RTK (Kosovo); and Radiotelevizija Slovenija (Slovenia). UKTV Play app first on Huawei AppGallery Multichannel programmer UKTV is partnering with China’s Huawei, with the broadcaster’s on demand app UKTV Play now available to download on the Huawei AppGallery, becoming the first TV on-demand service to launch on the platform in the UK, bringing a host of new entertainment options to Huawei users. Huawei users will now be able to stream their favourite programmes from UKTV channels Dave, Yesterday and Drama, as well as browse thousands of TV episodes and bingeworthy box sets from the comfort of their smartphones and tablets. “We’re always looking to make our shows available to our viewers on as many devices and platforms as possible,” explained Hugo Allen, UKTV Play’s head of commercial. “By making the UKTV Play app available in the Huawei AppGallery, we can ensure that all Huawei mobile phone users can enjoy programmes from Dave, Drama and Yesterday wherever and whenever they want.” Since launching in April 2018, Huawei AppGallery has grown and is now able to offer a secure service to over 26 million monthly active AppGallery users across Europe and 420 million monthly active users globally. “With over 60,000 apps already integrated with Huawei Mobile Services, we are rapidly building the Huawei AppGallery to offer the first real alternative in ten years,” commented Anson Zhang, managing director of the UK Consumer Business Group, Huawei. “We are continuously growing our service to bring our customers more of the apps we know they love, whilst working with some of most innovative developers to create the app store of the future.” “The launch of UKTV Play on the Huawei AppGallery marks an exciting step for the business. We are thrilled our UK customers can now enjoy instant access to their favourite shows from Dave, Yesterday and Drama channels in an easy and accessible way.” 8 EUROMEDIA