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They were always associated with the entity, but now they're a full fledged member.
Not exactly sure what, if anything, will change.
CBC/Radio-Canada becomes a full Member of the European Broadcasting Union
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With the possible exception of the Soviet, and that's debatable, has the CBC ever, ever seen the term union and not signed up for it?
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According to the New York Times, the full membership means Canada can now officially enter the fabled Eurovision Song Contest, a huge event overseas for decades, but almost unknown on this side of the pond.
The CBC has been approached about this before, but said it wasn't interested because of the expense. But that was before Canada turned its attention to Europe over trade and tariffs, seeking closer ties.
So far, the Corp. has failed to comment on the possibility of the country entering the famed contest, which has discovered major groups in the past, including launching the career of ABBA.
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Benefits? Well for starters, the CBC will now benefit from being part of the EBU’s News cooperative, which will provide them with greater access to the news resources of publicly funded broadcasters in Europe. At a time when the American networks are cutting back on overseas coverage to please the orange nitwit that’s currently their leader, it means a greater flow of information between Canada and one of the world’s largest trading blocks, giving us a chance to talk about our issues and our stories to hundreds of millions of people.
What else? Possibly more Canadian-European programming deals and joint productions where Toronto isn’t seen as a stand-in for New York City or federal and provincial tax credits don’t help nominally Canadian influencers build homes for celebrities in LA or Nashville. Perhaps no more “wacky” cop-private eye shows featuring mismatched partners who somehow succeed in catching crooks. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to see the end of that trend.
Overall, looks like a win-win to me.
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Not even the CBC seems to know if the CBC will enter Eurovision.
From the CBC:
Canada can now enter Eurovision, but CBC won't say whether it will
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Congrats!CBC!
I did'nt think the cbc was even eligible for the european broadcasting union.
It could make for some new and interesting programming on radio 1.
Now, all they nead to do is fix there left-leening bius and surv rural and suburban canada better.
I was also hoping they partenered with ABC in australia for programming and resourses.
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RadioActive wrote:
Not even the CBC seems to know if the CBC will enter Eurovision.
From the CBC:
Canada can now enter Eurovision, but CBC won't say whether it will
Canada will be the first non-european country to enter eurovision if it does.
Trump is going mad now that he does'nt have a grip on canada.
I wish we were an overseas taritory of the uk or the eu.
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A Canadian has won Eurovision before. Celine Dion won in 1988, and she represented Switzerland. Canada and CBC/Radio Canada were not part of the organization so Canada couldn't be represented. It will be interesting if we become part of this international music competition. My bet would be that we will..
Last edited by paterson1 (June 26, 2026 1:16 pm)
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paterson1 wrote:
A Canadian has won Eurovision before. Celine Dion won in 1988, and she represented Switzerland. Canada and CBC/Radio Canada were not part of the organization so Canada couldn't be represented. It will be interesting if we become part of this international music competition. My bet would be that we will..
Well, even the Prime Minister has mentioned it at one time or another, including in the last budget. So it would not surprise me if Canada did find itself on that stage.
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cash wrote:
I think Australia and Israel are in it
That is correct. There are also several other countries that are not in Europe and are eligible to participate because they are EBU members, but have not done so.
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I think that the CBC will benefit from joining the European Broadcasting Union, especially in the current affairs department. However, being part of Eurovision is debatable, yes, they introduced ABBA to the world and a slew of hokey songs as well, “Boom Bang a Bang” by Lulu, “ Ding a Dong” by Teach In (?) and “Diggy-Loo, Diggy-Lay” by some Swedish group are good examples of bad songs! OK, there are a few not bad ones too, but not many!
(I only know these songs as I researched Eurovision for a project I worked on years ago, it involved crap songs that became hits!).
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Two CBC execs. were asked by a member of the European Broadcasting Union how its new membership in the organization will affect viewers and listeners back home.
In addition to joining the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, you may notice an expansion in its overseas news coverage.
"Full membership means full participation in the =18pxEurovision News Exchange=18px, which allows us to offer Canadians more high-quality international news on topics or events that we sometimes can’t cover for logistical or budgetary reasons; they’ll see a greater variety of perspectives from a greater number and diversity of sources."
Building the future together: what European broadcasters can learn from CBC/Radio-Canada