Czech Radio confirms its strong position within European Broadcasting Union
René Zavoral, the Director General of Czech Radio (Český Rozhlas) was re-elected for the third consecutive time as Vice-Chair of the Radio Committee of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). In his mandate, he wants to focus primarily on the development of the digitalization of radio broadcasting in which Czech Radio has entered the final phase. Delegates of the EBU Radio Assembly elected new composition of the Radio Committee for the period 2021-2023.
“I value the trust and broad support from my European colleagues. Czech Radio has been an active and respected member of the European Broadcasting Union. I am honoured to be part of the Radio Committee, which deals not only with the development strategy of European public service radio broadcasters, but also defends the role and values of public service media,” said René Zavoral, Director General of Czech Radio, about his election.
One of his priorities will be to support the development of digital radio broadcasting. Czech Radio currently covers 95% of the population of the Czech Republic with DAB+ technology. DAB+ is a new European standard that offers high sound quality, space for multiple radio stations and accompanying multimedia services. The Czech Republic is among the 11 countries with the most developed DAB+ signal in Europe. “I gladly share with European colleagues experiences from the Czech Republic in the field of distribution platforms and on-demand content because the priority of public service media is to constantly look for new ways to get content to listeners,” said René Zavoral.
The EBU Radio Committee is the EBU’s main statutory body for European public service radio broadcasters. It decides on strategic priorities for radio broadcasting in Europe. It also formulates public service broadcasters’ common positions on legislation, copyright, music and digitalization, and supports the development of radio broadcasting in the EBU member countries. René Zavoral has been the Vice-Chair of the Radio Committee since 2017 and has been a member of the Committee since 2013.
The European Broadcasting Union is based in Geneva and is the world’s leading alliance of public service media. It represents 116 member organizations from 56 European countries and 34 other affiliates in Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania, and the Americas. The member organizations operate more than two thousand television, radio and online channels and services. Together, they reach more than one billion people worldwide and broadcast in more than 160 languages. The EBU also mediates one of the largest networks in the world for the international exchange of television and music broadcasts, based on satellite and optical links.
More about Radio Committee here.
Composition of the EBU Radio Committee for 2021-2023
Chairman:
Graham Ellis, BBC (Great Britain)
Vice-Chairmen:
René Zavoral, Český rozhlas (Czech Republic)
Serge Schick, France Médias Monde (France)
Philippa de Roten, RTS (Switzerland)
Members:
Elsa Comby, Radio France (France)
Gabriel Byström, Sveriges Radio (Sweden)
Giedrius Masalskis, LRT (Lithuania)
Frédéric Gérand, RTBF (Belgium)
Andrea Borgnino, RAI (Italy)
Dan Santa, ROR (Romania)
Zorana Bojicic, RTS/Radio Belgrade (Serbia)
Javier Sánchez, RNE (Spain)
Maria Kozakou, ERT (Greece)
Mirko Stular, RTVSLO (Slovenia)