A television audience of a hundred million is expected to watch the annual MTV Europe Music Awards which this year will take place in Dublin's Point Theatre on November 11th.
Full details of the music world's answer to the Oscars were announced at a press conference in London yesterday which was attended by Irish acts Ronan Keating, The Corrs and Westlife. Keating will host the show, the second time he has done so. Four thousand tickets for the pop-star-studded event were made available to viewers of the MTV Europe station yesterday, but were all snapped up within an hour. The awards will be shown live on MTV networks around the world from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The highly popular MTV network, which first started in the US in 1982, is now received by one out of every three television sets in the world. The European division began in the early 1990s and the European award ceremony is always noted for throwing up a bit of controversy.
Although the nominations in each category are decided by a European music industry panel, the overall winner will be decided by members of the public who will be asked to vote by phoning, writing to or e-mailing MTV with their choice.
The chief executive of MTV Europe, Mr Brent Hansen, said yesterday: "I am looking forward to bringing our most acclaimed and prestigious event to Ireland at long last. It's been my personal ambition ever since we started the MTV Europe Music Award to bring the show to a city which has such incredible energy and joie de vivre - not to mention its tremendous musical heritage.
