The long-awaited start of sales of tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest has been delayed – until at least the end of February.
It was earlier announced that tickets for Eurovision 2017, which is to take place in Kyiv in May, would finally go on sale this week.
But sales will now be delayed after ticket agencies complained that the ticket distributor was not selected in a transparent way.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine cancelled the results of a tender in which the National Television Company of Ukraine selected a ticket distributor for Eurovision, saying the process hadn’t been transparent.
The tender was held using the ProZorro electronic state procurement system on Jan. 19-20. It was won by B Tickets, a distributor also known as Concert.ua. The other bidders included tickets agencies Ukrticket Ltd., Ticket Agency Karabas Ltd., and Maestro Ticket System Ltd.
Maestro Ticket System Ltd. disputed the tender’s result and filed on Jan. 27 a complaint with the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine, claiming that the tender winner, B Tickets, does not meet qualifying criteria for a Eurovision tickets distributor.
Maestro claimed that B Ticket failed to provide documents certifying its experience in selling tickets in 2015-2016, including ticket sales abroad. Maestro also claimed that the winner does not have specialists to work as call center operators, and that its website Concert.ua is not properly protected and doesn’t have a sufficient English version, so a foreigner would not be able to buy a Eurovision ticket there unless they know Ukrainian or Russian.
Maestro Ticket System Ltd. and B Ticket did not respond to requests from the Kyiv Post for comment.
On Feb. 6 the Antimonopoly Committee declared Maestro’s complaint reasonable, and ordered the National Broadcasting Company of Ukraine to cancel the tender’s results.
Pavlo Hrytsak, the deputy general director of the National Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, which is responsible for organizing the Eurovision song contest in Ukraine, denied there had been any wrongdoing during the holding of the tender.
“We will fulfill the Antimonopoly Committee’s decision – we have no other choice. We cannot say that we agree with this decision, that’s why we are looking for solutions so we can start selling tickets as soon as possible,” he told Ukrainian television’s STB TV channel on Feb. 7.
The Antimonopoly Committee’s Agniya Zahrebelska said in a comment to STB TV on Feb. 7 that she believed that the National Broadcasting Company of Ukraine “will find a legitimate way to provide tickets for sale on time.”
Jon Ola Sand, Eurovision’s executive producer, said the European Broadcasting Union, which produces the event, was “saddened by the delay to the start of sales of Eurovision 2017 tickets.”
“The European Broadcasting Union recognizes that any tender should be transparent and fair, and hopes that the tickets will go on sale as soon as possible,” Sands said.
The new tender to select a Eurovision ticket vendor is scheduled to take place on Feb. 15.
Hrytsak said ticket sales would start in February, but did not specify an exact date. However, the sales can start even later than that. On Feb. 9, the National Broadcasting Company of Ukraine removed the information about the Eurovision tickets sale being expected to begin in February from its website.
As the Kyiv Post reported earlier, sales of Eurovision 2017 tickets were due to start this week, and ticket prices are expected to range from 40–200 euros.
Compared to previous years, Ukraine is already several months late in starting Eurovision ticket sales. For Eurovision 2016, which was held last May in Sweden, ticket sale started on Nov. 26, 2015. Last year’s Eurovision tickets cost between 11–280 euros.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 semifinals will be held on May 9 and May 11 in Kyiv. The final will take place on May 13. The event will be held at the International Exhibition Center in Kyiv.
