Azernews.Az

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the Eurovision Song Contest, has taken action against ITV, Azerbaijan’s public TV channel, over alleged violations committed during the 2009 contest.
The EBU claimed in a statement on Thursday that ITV is required to pay a fine for what it says is violating contest rules related to displaying phone numbers on television screens during the broadcast.
It also warned that the Azerbaijani broadcaster could be forbidden to air Eurovision for three years if such violations reoccur.
The European broadcasting body had received a complaint, following the contest, which was broadcast from Moscow in May, alleging that ITV had failed to show the phone number required to vote for Armenia’s performers.
Several music fans in Azerbaijan said earlier they had been called to the National Security Ministry over voting for the Armenian entry. Further, the EBU decided to amend contest rules so that the country's participating television broadcaster is liable "for any disclosure of information which could be used to identify voters." The union also decried what it called "the breach in privacy" of Azerbaijanis who voted via mobile phone for the Armenian song.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for nearly two decades.
A total of 42 European countries had joined the contest. The winner was Alexander Ryback, a singer from Norway who is originally from Belarus. Azerbaijan, which took part in the contest for the second time, was represented by Aysel and Arash, who delivered an outstanding performance with the smashing hit Always, ranking third at the Eurovision final.*