Live 8 broadcasters
With the Live 8 concerts of July 2005 spanning ten countries and four continents, a large number of broadcasters was needed to bring the event of the year to the nearly 6.5 billion people around the globe.
Europe
In Austria, the entire day was covered live by ATV+.
In Belgium, JIMtv broadcast full coverage of Live 8 from different places 16.00-03.00.
In Croatia, the show was broadcast partly on HTV2 and fully on satellite channel HTVPlus.
In the Czech Republic, the show was broadcast live by the public channel ČT2 of Česká televize. (15.00-23.00, 23.25-01.00).
In Denmark, the entire day was covered live by DR: Coverage was shared between DR1 and DR2.
In Finland, the concerts were shown by YLE: YLE TV2 17.00-18.00, 18.45-21.00, 22.20-04.00 and YLE Teema 16.00-03.00
In France, it was broadcast on the commercial channel M6. First there was live coverage of Live 8 in London, and in the late afternoon this switched to live coverage of the Paris concert. In the late evening there were highlights of all the day's Live 8 events. The event was also available on the French subsidiary of MTV
In Germany, the entire day was covered by Phoenix. In the afternoon many local ARD stations had a live feed. Later in the day and on Sunday there were repeats on EinsFestival, EinsPlus, Das Erste. (All these channels can be received FTA in Europe via satellite.)
In Greece, parts of the concerts were broadcast by MEGA Channel from 21.00-00.30 and 1.00 until the morning.
In Hungary, the show was broadcast by Magyar Televízió: shared between M1 and M2.[1]
In Ireland, state broadcaster, RTÉ, showed the concerts live. RTÉ Two: 14.00–17.00, 19.20–00.05 and RTÉ One: 17.00–18.00. It could also be seen on the British BBC channels in Ireland as well.
In Italy, the show was broadcast by the state-channel Rai Tre.
In Macedonia, the shows were broadcast on A1 and on Antenna 5 radio.
In Malta the show was broadcast on Super One Television.
In the Netherlands, Live 8 was shown on public channel 3 15.00-03.00 CET (live8live.nl, as well as BNN, VARA and 3FM), along with BBC One and BBC Two which are widely available in the Netherlands (see United Kingdom for times).
In Norway, the shows aired live on both NRK television channels.
In Poland, the shows aired live on TVN.
In Portugal, transmission was being handled by RTP channels, both on TV (RTP1, RTP2 and RTPN) and radio (RDP Antena 3).
In Montenegro, the shows aired live on the state channel RTCG2.
In Serbia, the entire show was broadcast live without commercials on the state-run RTS3 channel. It was hosted by Dejan Cukić.
In Slovenia, the shows aired live 15.00-17.00 CET on state channel RTV Slovenija 1 and 17.50-01.00 on TV Slovenija 2 (the break being due to a long women's tennis final at Wimbledon). Hosts were Andrej Karoli and Mojca Mavec.
In Spain, the show was broadcast live by the public channel TVE2 (16.00-18.15, 21.00-03.00 GMT+1). Ainhoa Arbizu and Neil Solé hosted the Spanish broadcast of the show.
In Sweden, Sveriges Television broadcast the event non-stop on SVT1 (15.00-18.15, 21.00-00.00) and SVT2 (18.15-21.00, 00.00-03.00).
In Switzerland, Live 8 was broadcast in parts by SF zwei.
In Turkey, the entire day was covered live by NTV.
In the United Kingdom, the London show was broadcast live from 13.00-18.15 BST on BBC Two, when coverage switched to BBC One until midnight BST on Sunday. BBC One then aired the Philadelphia show until 03.35 BST. There was a repeat on BBC Three 19.00-03.00 BST Sunday. The Philadelphia and the Eden shows were both broadcast live on the BBCs digital/interactive service. There was also live coverage not only on BBC radio stations, but also on the major commercial stations. (NB: Coverage was interrupted by the overrun of the Wimbledon ladies' singles final, leading the resumption of coverage on BBC One to be delayed approximately 15 minutes, causing a short overlap with both BBC channels). Live 8 on BBC One attracted an average of 7.8 million viewers, with a peak of 9.6 million viewers as Robbie Williams was on stage.
North America
In Canada, CTV broadcast the full Canadian concert as well as selected live performances and highlights from the other eight concerts continuously from 7:00 a.m. EDT 2 July until approximately 1:30 a.m. EDT 3 July, including a five-hour "Greatest Hits" highlights package. Most of the radio stations of Standard Broadcasting aired the full Canadian concert live, and CBC Radio One aired highlights. According to BBM Canada, approximately 10.5 million Canadians watched Live 8 on CTV at some point, with an average of 1.1 million watching each minute .
In Mexico the show was broadcast on MTV Mexico and some radio stations.
In the USA the coverage was as follows: MTV, MTV2, MTVU (the MTV University-oriented channel), and VH1 showed portions of most of the Live 8 concerts, switching between all eight shows and also showing recaps of Live Aid as well as special content such as interviews with the stars and people behind Live 8 . All channels had the same coverage of the concert, in order to keep viewers from avoiding commercials by jumping between channels. In keeping with general criticisms of U.S. music television, some viewers felt that the coverage contained an excessive amount of commercials and celebrity interviews, and a paucity of actual music . Coverage began at Noon ET, just when the show in Philadelphia got underway.
Other Viacom-owned networks Country Music Television and VH1 Classic aired concert highlights the following day (3 July 2005) featuring artists for their audiences. (Hence the Rome concert featuring Faith Hill and Tim McGraw for CMT and older artists or even veterans of Live Aid for VH1 Classic.)
Although MTV and VH1 arguably dropped the ball on their coverage, the networks listened to the complaints and decided to try again. The following Saturday (9 July), the networks broadcast five hours each, commercial-free, allowing for more artists and longer sets to be shown for the first time on American TV. the two five-hour broadcasts contained many of the same artists, but roughly half of each set-list was unique to that network. The VH1 coverage aired from 10.00 EST, with MTV's coverage immediately following at 15.00.
ABC bought the U.S. network television rights, licensed through America Online, and aired a two-hour highlights show in prime time (20.00 EST) on the day of the concert, 2 July. The special contained specially selected segments of the concerts, and voice-overs were done by late-night jock Matt Cord from WMMR Philadelphia, who also covered the event via radio.
AOL broadcast portions of the concert live to AOL's dial-up and Bring Your Own Access (BYOA ... aka over the Internet) customers. The portions broadcast by AOL were literally live broadcasts (real-time less only network propagation delays). At the time it was the largest single online (Internet) broadcast to date. The preparation and delivery of the live event was the first major leap in Over The Top (OTT) video or online/Internet video.
XM Satellite Radio carried the concerts live from Philadelphia, London, Paris, Berlin and Rome.
Outside of the US, MTV aired hourly simulcast bulletins comprising interviews and performances on a number of MTV, VH1 and TMF branded channels around the world.
South America
In Argentina, MTV showed event fragments every 30 minutes live via Cable and Satellite TV, while local FM radio Rock & Pop broadcast the concerts almost in their entirety. TV channel Canal 13 showed highlights of the shows the event night and on the following week, Saturday 9 July 2005, starting at 21:30 local time. MTV Argentina is the home for all MTV Latin America transmission, so the same fragments every 30 minutes where watch in almost all Latin America.
In Brazil, MTV Brasil broadcast the events live.
In Colombia, La Mega radio station broadcast the entire event the whole day, with breaks for commercials. Also, MTV Latin America (from Argentina) and the TV channel RCN transmitted small breaks of the events, with commercial and breaks between the original programming.
Asia and Africa
In Pakistan ARY NEtworks "The Musik" broadcast the concerts.
In India, VH1 was broadcasting the concerts.
In Israel, the concerts were broadcast on channel Israel 10 16.00-21.00, 22.30-03.00, interrupted for a news editorial.
In Lebanon, Live 8 was covered by 99FM.
In Malaysia and Brunei, the shows aired live on satellite television Astro (All Asia Broadcast), on Astro Live 8 on Channel 88 and on MIX FM at 21.00, Saturday. There were repeat screenings on Sunday at 12.00 and on Monday at 16.00.
In the rest of the Middle East (Arab World), the show was broadcast on MBC4, part of the MBC network.
In Singapore, the shows aired live on cable television (Starhub Cable Vision) on Preview Channel 01 21.00-07.00.
Oceania
In Australia, the Nine Network showed selected highlights 20.30-22.45 on Sunday, 3 July 2005. Pay TV channel FOX8 showed coverage live from 21.30 AEST on Saturday night to 10.00 AEST on Sunday morning. Radio stations in the Austereo network, including Triple M in certain capitals, broadcast the concert from 23.00 AEST Saturday night onwards. This led to it being roundly criticised for not being shown live on free to air television (see Shame of it all - no Live 8 live on free-to-air TV).
In New Zealand, the show aired live on TV 2 until 12 p.m. NZST on Sunday Morning. It originally was scheduled to start at 2 a.m. Sunday Morning in the TV guide, but started earlier (around 1:30 a.m. NZST) with coverage of the Asian concert. The entire show was on free to air television with no advertising.
Online broadcasters
America Online broadcast every Live 8 concert in its entirety live via the Internet on AOL.com and made them available for viewing for six weeks following the shows.
References
- thelive8concert.com.Live 8 broadcasters details page.