2018 Eurovision winner, Israeli Neta Barzilai, performed for the WeWork Creator Awards ceremony in Jerusalem on Wednesday. . (photo credit: Courtesy)
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No clear solution is in sight for the two-week extension granted to Israeli public broadcaster Kan earlier this month to come up with funding for a Eurovision deposit. The extension is set to expire on Tuesday,.
Government officials and a spokeswoman for Kan both refused to say they would fund the 12 million euro deposit required to guarantee hosting.
“If the government doesn’t give us the money, there won’t be a Eurovision,” a Kan spokeswoman told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Both Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Likud MK David Bitan said Monday morning that the ball was in Kan’s court.
“The Eurovision is dependent only on the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation,” Kahlon told Ynet. “Nobody else is stopping it on the way. If the IPBC doesn’t want it, then the Eurovision won’t happen.”
Bitan told Army Radio Monday that he doesn’t think the Eurovision will take place in Israel next year: “Kan aren’t willing to take a loan and they aren’t willing to make the deposit.”
But sources at the public broadcaster said the situation is more complicated. “The IPBC can’t fund the production of the Eurovision competition from its budget,” a spokeswoman for Kan said in a statement Sunday night. “The budget is totally transparent and covers by law the activities of three TV channels and nine radio stations as well as its digital activities.”
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Kan, whose 2018 budget stands at NIS 747 million, said it is “required by law to invest in content and original productions all year long.” The public broadcaster added that “almost every other country given the privilege to host the Eurovision contributes to its budget” and earns the investment back with both tourism money and global exposure.”
“All our attempts to find a common solution have been ignored,” a Kan spokeswoman said Sunday, “and the government’s decision will unequivocally lead to giving up the right to host the competition.”
Kan sources have said that even if it paid the 12 million euro, it can’t come up with the remaining funding for the competition alone, and would end up forfeiting the deposit and going illegally into debt.
The IPBC said Monday morning that it is urging the relevant decision makers to sit together and decide on a budget with the Finance Ministry.
Spokesmen for both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Communications Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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