Some viewers to the first semi-final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest may have experienced technical problems while trying to enjoy the show. The EBU hastily organised a press conference to explain what happened.
In an operation as large as the Eurovision Song Contest, it is inevitable that sometimes problems occur. Despite a mainly smooth running of the first semi-final, we understood that some countries had problems with the sound an commentaries from Düsseldorf. Jon-Ola Sand (of the EBU), Thomas Schreiber (of NDR), Dieter Thiessen (head of engineering) and Thomas Riedel (of Riedel Communications) first apologised for the technical problems that occurred, but confirmed that only the commentaries by some broadcasters were affected.
They explained that around 20 minutes before the show went on air, something had gone wrong. It appears it was the connection between the commentators’ booths and the main switch. It involved a multi-channel audio connection with 64 output channels. as a result, the commentary developed an intermittent fault. After the show last night, another level of output was installed to ensure this problem does not happen again. Stress tests are taking place before the second semi-final rehearsals start today.
Jon-Ola Sand of the EBU was obviously not happy with the situation, and had extensive meetings with NDR last night. He is confident that everything will be fixed by tonight.
Feedback had been received that some commentators had to broadcast using their mobile phones. At this stage, it’s difficult to say how many countries had been affected.
Finally, it was stressed that the technical problems had not affected the voting, which had all gone very smoothly.
