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The Rose d’Or Festival, now entering its 52nd year, has changed hands for the second time in three years.
Swiss firm Ringier, which acquired the event in 2009, has transferred rights to the brand to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a Geneva-based association of 74 public and private broadcasters.
Under the deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, the EBU will take over the marketing, planning and organisation of the festival. Next year’s event will move to Brussels as a result, and it will move around EBU member states in subsequent years.
The move was “due to the restructuring of Ringier’s entertainment division,” said the former owner. “The European Broadcasting Union can now offer this event the perfect platform for a great future,” said Marc Walder, CEO of Ringier.
“The Rose d’Or Festival encapsulates quality and innovative entertainment values which are at the heart of public service broadcasting,” said Ingrid Deltenre, the EBU’s director general.
The transfer of the Rose d’Or brand to the EBU is the latest twist in the life of the festival. Ringier bought the brand from Freddy Burger Management (FBMG) in 2009 and this year moved it from the autumn to May. FBMG, in turn, acquired it in 2006 for US$450,000 from a group of private individuals who previously owned the brand and event; and Bigger Pix, which previously licensed the brand and operated the festival before FBMG, went bankrupt in 2006.
After being staged for more than 40 years in Montreux, Switzerland, the event has been held in Lucerne since 2004. This year’s event took place in May with an Australian series winning the Golden Rose.
UPDATE: An EBU spokesman has confirmed to C21 the Rose d’Or festival will be integrated into the EBU’s TV Summit, which, like other events such as the EBU News Xchange, is in a different location each year. Other European cities will be able to apply for it, in conjunction with the national broadcaster.
