DR applies for extra Eurovision funding

Public broadcaster wants to put on an ambitious, and potentially costly, Eurovision Song Contest next year and has now applied for extra state funding

Public broadcaster DR has applied for a grant to help finance next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, reports Mediawatch.

DR has a fund where it stores surplus money from licence fees – which currently contains 53 million kroner – that they now want to tap into to help fund an ambitious show in the former shipbuilding wharf in Refshaleøen.

“It is correct that DR has written a letter to the Ministry of Culture with a request to be considered when the relevant parties meet to discuss how to spend the surplus funds from licence fees,” DR's director general, Maria Rørbye Rønn, told Mediawatch.

READ MORE: From grime to glitz: Eurovision jumps on industrial bandwagon

Semi final shows increase costs
It is the responsibility of the public broadcaster in the winning nation to put on the following year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Rønn stressed that DR could not have earmarked funds for next year's show, as there was no way to predict that Denmark would win this year’s event.

She added that Denmark’s last Eurovision in 2001 cost 70 million kroner, but since then the event has become more expensive to put on with the addition of two semi-final shows.

READ MORE: Danish delight as Emmelie de Forest wins Eurovision

“We have applied for a share of the funds and now it is up to politicians to decide how much they want to contribute,” Rønn said, adding that DR will fund the vast majority of the show.

The decision to put on the show in Refshaleøen was met with both praise and criticism.

Some found the industrial setting an exciting opportunity for Denmark to put a unique spin on the event, while others argued that DR could have found a much more cost-effective solution by holding the event in a more traditional arena. 

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