PORTUGAL – On August 25th, local press reported an exceed of 4 million Euros o the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest budget. Now it is reported that 7 more million Euros are overspent from the budget which would been given to Eurovision Song Contest (national selection and participation) and World Cup.
THE STORY ON AUGUST 25
Dinheiro Vivo reports that after a 20 million Euro investment in hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, RTP has recorded a loss of 4 million Euro from the event. According to the report RTP spent 20 million Euro on organising and hosting the event, while ticket sales, advertiser revenue and sponsorship only brought in 16 million Euro.
The 4 million Euro loss comes at the same time as the Portuguese broadcaster spent 12.6 million Euro on the rights to the 2018 World Cup and only brought in around 7 million Euros in revenue from the competition.
The Union representing a number of workers at RTP has been demanding an audit of the broadcasters finances following the loses. Gonçalo Reis the Head of the Board of Directors at RTP commented;
“The situation of this year is very complicated and that the budget is tight and must be managed rigorously after investing in the Eurovision Song Contest and the World Cup.”
NOW ESC PORTUGAL REPORTS
The RTP Opinion Board reported in an opinion related to the report and accounts for the year 2018 that it recorded a gap of seven million euros that would have been spent more on the coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest or the World Cup.
