Last month, two private commercial broadcasters left the European Broadcasting Union, the governing body in charge of all contests within the Eurovision brand (ESC, JESC, EYD, etc.). This raises the number of broadcasters leaving the EBU in 2019 to three, after Spanish broadcaster COPE left earlier this August.
Finnish commercial broadcaster MTV3 (formally TV3) was the first of these two to leave. The private broadcaster was bought out by a Swedish telecommunications company in 2018. After the buyout was approved by the European Commission in October, MTV3 officially withdrew.
MTV3 had been a member of the EBU since 1957, but had no direct connections to any Eurovision affiliated events.
Soon after, Swedish broadcaster TV4 withdrew their membership as well. TV4 joined the EBU in 2004, and competed in Eurovision adjacent events in the 2000s.
In 2006, 2007, and 2009, TV4 participated in Junior Eurovision, organizing national finals for their participation and presenting hosting bids in 2008 and 2009. TV4 also was the Swedish broadcaster for the Eurovision Dance Contest when the contest was held in 2007 and 2008.
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