2000 Today was an internationally broadcast television special which commemorated the beginning of the Year 2000, or the Millennium. This program included New Year's Eve celebrations, musical performances, and other features from participating nations. The international television special was conceived as part of the Millennium celebrations, given the numerical significance of the change from 1999 to 2000. 2000 Today was commissioned by the BBC as one of the five main millennium projects that were broadcast across TV, radio and online services throughout 1999 and 2000.
Most international broadcasts such as the Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, and the FIFA World Cup coverages originate from a limited area for worldwide distribution. 2000 Today, however, was rare in that its live and taped programming originated from member countries and represented all continents, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
Production[]
The programme was produced and televised by an international consortium of 60 broadcasters, headed by the BBC in the United Kingdom and WGBH in Boston, United States. The editorial board also included representatives from ABC (Australia), CBC (Canada), CCTV (China), ETC (Egypt), RTL (Germany), SABC (South Africa), TF1 (France), TV Asahi (Japan), TV Globo (Brazil) and ABC (USA). The BBC provided the production hub for receiving and distributing the 78 international satellite feeds required for this broadcast. The idents for the programme were designed in the UK by Lambie-Nairn and the BBC for use by all the participating broadcasters taking part in the event. The linking theme throughout all the idents and promotions was a distinctively shaped stone engraved with the year 2000. The themes were: desert, fire, ice, lasers and water; plus a special BBC News ident.
Most nations that observe the Islamic calendar were not involved in 2000 Today. However, a few predominantly Muslim nations were represented among the programme's worldwide broadcasters such as Egypt (ERTU) and Indonesia (RCTI). Africa was minimally represented in 2000 Today. The only participating nations from that continent were Egypt and South Africa. Portugal-based RTP África distributed the programme to some African nations.
Up to 5,000 staff worked on 2000 Today, 1,500 of them in BBC Television Centre in West London, where all eight television studios were used during the 28-hour broadcast. Each participant financed and produced its own contributions and shared the core costs proportionately to its size and wealth. It is estimated to have cost $6 million to produce and broadcast.
2000 Today was nominated for "Best Visual Effects and Graphic Design" at the 2000 British Academy Television Craft Awards.
Program timeline[]
2000 Today's core international broadcast was 28 hours long, following the beginning of the New Year 2000 across the world's time zones. The programme was tailored by individual broadcasters to provide local content and hosts.
The broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom started on 31 December 1999 at 09:15 UTC. 2000 Today started its international feed at 09:40 UTC, with the Kiribati Line Islands celebrating the arrival of 2000 at 10:00 UTC.
Most of Europe celebrated midnight at 23:00 UTC. Broadcasting celebrations from many countries under Central European Time posed a particularly complex broadcast challenge. 2000 Today chose to rapidly air each nation's midnight observances in succession, using tape delays in most cases. This hour of the broadcast included a blessing by Pope John Paul II from Vatican City and the pyrotechnic display of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. ABC 2000 however decided to use Paris for its broadcast in the United States while French broadcasters TF1 and France 2 covered the festivities live from the Eiffel Tower. In addition, Italian broadcaster Rai used the pope's blessing for its Millennium - La Notte Del 2000 broadcast.
2000 Today's international feed finished shortly after midnight celebrations were broadcast from Samoa on 1 January 2000 at 11:00 UTC. BBC One in the United Kingdom continued to broadcast with national features until 13:30. Later the same evening, it aired a two-hour highlights programme, The Best of 2000 Today.
Performances[]
| Continent | Performer(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | Jean Michel Jarre | Giza pyramid complex, Egypt |
| Americas | Bee Gees | Miami, Florida, United States |
| Mariah Carey | New York City, New York, United States | |
| Juan Gabriel | Mexico | |
| Great Big Sea | St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada | |
| Kenny G | New York City, New York, United States | |
| Billy Joel | New York City, New York, United States | |
| Christina Aguilera | New York City, New York, United States | |
| Enrique Iglesias | New York City, New York, United States | |
| Phish | Big Cypress Indian Reservation, Florida, United States | |
| *NSYNC | Orlando, Florida, United States | |
| Neil Diamond | Denver, Colorado, United States | |
| The Tragically Hip | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | |
| Celine Dion | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |
| Los Fabulosos Cadillacs | Ushuaia, Argentina | |
| Alejandro Lerner and Mercedes Sosa | Iguazú Falls, Argentina | |
| Lito Vitale and Estudio Coral de Buenos Aires | Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina | |
| Gal Costa | Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
| Engenheiros do Hawaii | Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Ivete Sangalo | Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Los Javias | Palacio de La Moneda, Chile | |
| Javierra Parra | Palacio de La Moneda, Chile | |
| Asia | Maki Ohguro | Nara, Japan |
| Ketsumeishi | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Seikima-II | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Shinhwa | Seoul, South Korea | |
| Regine Velasquez | The Peninsula Manila, Makati, Philippines | |
| Eraserheads | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Francis Magalona | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Rivermaya | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| The Dawn | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Rachel Alejandro | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Champagne Morales | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Parokya ni Edgar | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Razorback | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Gary Valenciano | Ayala Avenue, Makati, Philippines | |
| Gurmit Singh | Orchard Road, Singapore | |
| Europe | CK Vocal | Prague, Czech Republic |
| Spievankovo | Bratislavia, Slovakia | |
| Muzsikás And Márta Sebestyén | Budapest, Hungary | |
| Björk | Reykjavík, Iceland | |
| Charlotte Church | United Kingdom | |
| The Corrs | London, England, United Kingdom | |
| Eurythmics | United Kingdom | |
| Ronan Keating | Dublin, Ireland | |
| Manic Street Preachers | Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom | |
| Martine McCutcheon | United Kingdom | |
| Fatboy Slim | Liverpool, United Kingdom | |
| Modern Talking | Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany | |
| Erkan Aki | Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany | |
| Mike Oldfield | Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany | |
| Natalie MacMaster | Ireland | |
| Robyn | Sweden | |
| ABBA | Sweden | |
| B&B | Sweden | |
| Europe | Sweden | |
| Ruslana | Kyiv, Ukraine | |
| Simply Red | London, England, United Kingdom | |
| Spice Girls | London, England, United Kingdom | |
| Oceania | Split Enz | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Kiri Te Kanawa | Gisborne, New Zealand | |
| Savage Garden | Sydney, Australia |
Participating broadcasters[]
Countries marked with a dagger (†) are countries represented by broadcasters which are members of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU)
| Country | Network | National hosts |
|---|---|---|
| Anguilla † | Anguilla Television | no hosts |
| Antigua and Barbuda † | ABS Television | no hosts |
| Argentina | El Trece (El Día del Milenio) | Lito Vitale, Coro de Buenos Aires, Julio Bocca, Eleonora Cassano, Mónica Cahen D'Anvers, César Maschetti, Mercedes Sosa and Alejandro Lerner |
| Aruba † | TeleAruba | no hosts |
| Australia | ABC | George Negus, Maxine McKew, Deborah Kennedy, Mike Bailey, Andrea Stretton, Caroline Baum, John Lombard, Jennifer Byrne, James O'Loghlin, Daniel Marsden, Peter Thompson, Ken Radley, Nicholas Opolski, Mary-Ann Henshaw, Taylor Owynns, Troy Planet, and Kathy Bowlen |
| Austria | ORF | no hosts |
| Bahamas † | BCB ZNS-TV | no hosts |
| Barbados † | CBC Barbados | no hosts |
| Belgium | VRT (Dutch), RTBF (French) | no hosts |
| Belize † | Great Belize Television | no hosts |
| Bermuda † | BBC ZFB-TV | no hosts |
| Brazil | Rede Record | Boris Casoy, Eliana, José Luiz Datena, Eleonora Paschoal, Virgínia Nowicki, Dalton Vigh, Fábio Jr and Raul Gil |
| Rede Bandeirantes | Otaviano Costa, Márcia Peltier, Fernando Vannucci, Susana Alves, Marcos Hummel, Luciano do Valle and Silvia Poppovic | |
| Canada | CBC (English) | Peter Mansbridge (primary host, most hours), Laurie Brown (00:00-08:00 UTC, with Mansbridge) and Alison Smith (13:00-18:00 UTC) |
| Radio-Canada (French) | Technicians at Radio-Canada were on strike at the time. Transmissions were seen as scheduled, but using only the main feed from the BBC, with a French voice-over. Also, as a consequence, 2000 footage from Canada was scarce on SRC's presentation, while footage from Quebec were not available at all worldwide (though the CBC did manage to get the only Quebec coverage on their own network—a video shot of midnight fireworks in Hull, Quebec, shot from Ottawa, Ontario). | |
| Cape Verde | RTP África | no hosts |
| Chile | TVN | Jennifer Warner, Mauricio Bustamante, Jorge Hevia, Margot Kahl, Karen Doggenweiler, Felipe Camiroaga, Pedro Carcuro, Rafael Araneda and Andrea Molina |
| China | CCTV | no hosts |
| Colombia | RCN Televisión (Bienvenido Año 2000) | Claudia Gurisatti, William Calderón and Iñaki Berrueta |
| Czech Republic | ČT | Marek Beneš, Vladimír Jiránek, Karel Gott, Břetislav Pojar, Pavel Koutský, Jiří Lábus, Ota Jirák, Václav Postránecký, Petr Haničinec, Petr Skoumal, Jiřina Bohdalová, Blanka Bohdanová, Jiri Salamoun, Karel Cernoch, Martin Klásek, Jan Balej, Karel Fiala, Zdenek Miler, Alena Munkova, Jiri Munk, Robert Hájek, Kristýna Květová, Petr Narozny, Josef Dvorak, Jiri Barta, Jaroslav Uhlir, Jiri Korn,
Jaroslav Sveceny, Hana Zagorova, Petr Bobek, Eva Pilarova, Jitka Molavcova, Ivan Mladek, Josef Alois Náhlovský, Petr Vacek, Lucie Vondráčková, Karel Zich, Josef Laufer, Lenka Plackova, Petr Vitek, Zdenek Smetana, Emil Viklicky, |
| Denmark | DR, TV3 | no hosts |
| Ecuador | Teleamazonas | no hosts |
| Egypt | ERTU | no hosts |
| Estonia | TV3 | Ene Veiksaar (9:40-12:00 UTC), Lauri Hussar (9:40-12:00 UTC), Jüri Aarma (12:00-15:00 UTC), Priit Aimla (12:00-15:00 UTC), Rein Lang (15:00-18:00 UTC), Kiur Aarma (15:00-18:00 UTC), Harri Tiido (18:00-21:00 UTC), Vello Rand (18:00-21:00 UTC), Mart Luik (21:00-00:00 UTC), Märt Treier (06:00-09:00 UTC), Kätlin Kontor (06:00-09:00 UTC) and Enn Eesmaa (09:00-11:00 UTC) |
| Fiji | Fiji TV | no hosts |
| Finland | YLE | Katariina Lillqvist |
| France | TF1 (Le Millénium) | Jean-Claude Narcy, Valérie Benaïm, Christophe Dechavanne, Carole Rousseau, Jean-Pierre Pernaut, Évelyne Dhéliat, Claire Chazal, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor and Charles Villeneuve |
| Germany | RTL Television | Peter Kloeppel, Antonia Rados, Bernd Fuchs, Heiner Bremer, Michael Karr and Birgit von Bentzel |
| Greece | ERT | no hosts |
| Grenada † | GBN Television | no hosts |
| Guinea-Bissau | RTP África | no hosts |
| Guyana † | GTV Guyana | no hosts |
| Hong Kong | ATV | no hosts |
| Hungary | MTV (selected coverage on MTV1, full coverage on MTV2) | no hosts |
| Iceland | Stöð 2 | no hosts |
| India | Doordarshan, Zee TV | no hosts |
| Indonesia | RCTI | no hosts |
| Ireland | RTÉ One (Millenium Eve: Celebrate 2000) | Miriam O'Callaghan, Mark Little, Geri Maye, Pat Kenny, Liz Bonnin, Joe Duffy |
| Israel | IBA, ICP | no hosts |
| Keshet 2 | Miki Haimovich and Jacob Elon | |
| Italy | RAI (Millennium - La notte del 2000) | Bruno Pizzul, Monica Maggioni, Carlo Conti, Gigi Proietti, Valeria Marini and Clarissa Burt |
| Jamaica | Television Jamaica | no hosts |
| Japan | TV Asahi,NHK | no hosts |
| NHK (Kōhaku Uta Gassen) | Masato Kubota and Kihachiro Kawamoto | |
| Jordan | JRTC | no hosts |
| Lebanon | MTV Lebanon | no hosts |
| Lithuania | TV3 | no hosts |
| Macau | TDM (possible also on Channel 32 and Channel 30) | no hosts |
| Malaysia | RTM | no hosts |
| Malta | Super One | no hosts |
| Mexico | Televisa | Ernesto Laguardia, Mayra Saucedo, Marco Antonio Regil, Guilliermo Ochoa, Guilliermo Ortega and Lolita Ayala |
| Canal Once | Adriana Perez Cañedo, Jose Angel Dominguez, Sergio Uzeta, Christina Pacheco, Rocío Brauer and Lilia Silvia Hernandez | |
| Montserrat † | People's Television Montserrat | no hosts |
| Mozambique | RTP África | no hosts |
| Netherlands | NPO (NOS) | Kees Prins, Siem van Leeuwen, Astrid Kersseboom and Jeroen Overbeek |
| Netherlands Antilles † | TeleCuraçao | no hosts |
| New Zealand | TV3 | no hosts |
| Norway | NRK, TV3 | no hosts |
| Oman | Oman TV | no hosts |
| Panama | Telemetro | no hosts |
| Paraguay | Telefuturo | no hosts |
| Peru | Panamericana Televisión | no hosts |
| Philippines | GMA Network (GMA-Ayala Millennium Party / Global Millennium Day Broadcast) | Mike Enriquez, Jessica Soho, Mel Tiangco, Jay Sonza, German Moreno, Angelique Lazo, Vicky Morales, Paolo Bediones, Karen Davila, Arnold Clavio, Winnie Monsod, Oscar Orbos, Inday Badiday, Mickey Ferriols, Miriam Quiambao, Ryan Agoncillo, KC Montero, Suzi Entrata, Kara David, Bernadette Sembrano, Luchi Cruz-Valdez, Ninna Castro, Lyn Ching, Margaux Salcedo, Arnell Ignacio, Dinna Bonnevie, Susan Enriquez, Tisha Silang, Antoinette Taus, Francis Magalona, Dingdong Dantes, Gabby Eigenmann, Miles Poblete, Lani Misalucha, Martin Andanar, Xaxa Manalo, Butch Francisco, Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, Cacai Velasquez, Gelli de Belen, Janice de Belen, Janno Gibbs, The Eraserheads, Jiggy Manicad, Bobby Nalzaro, Coke Bolipata, Tricia Roman, Jackie de Guzman, Tek Ocampo, Dario Manolet, John Robinson, Maybelyn Dela Cruz, Angelika Dela Cruz, Trina Zuniga, Vina Morales, Giselle Toengi, Roxanne Barcelo, Real Sorroche, Sarah Hilomen-Velasco, Ogie Alcasid, Anjo Yllana, Jimmy Santos, Jason Red, Lolit Solis, Erwin Aquino, Oyo Boy Sotto, Tricia Zafra, Rossana Roces, Ina Raymundo, Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, Michael V., Cecille Quibod Castro, Fe Marie Dumaboc, Lu Anne Mae Rondina, Jeja Rose Simeon, Noly Calvo, Jaya, Side A, Robert Sena, Grace Nono, Al Torres and Verni Varga |
| Poland | TVP | Halina Filek Marszalek |
| Portugal | RTP | José Rodrigues dos Santos and Manuela Moura Guedes |
| Romania | Antena 1 (licensee) | no hosts |
| Russia | VGTRK, Prometey AST | no hosts |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis † | ZIZ Television | no hosts |
| Saint Lucia † | Helen Television System | no hosts |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines † | SVGBC ZBG-TV | no hosts |
| Samoa | Samoa TV | no hosts |
| São Tomé and Príncipe | RTP África | no hosts |
| Singapore | TCS, CNA, STV12, SCV | no hosts |
| Slovakia | Luna TV (licensee) | no hosts |
| STV1 | Julius Pantik | |
| Slovenia | POP TV | no hosts |
| South Africa | SABC | no hosts |
| South Korea | MBC | Sohn Suk-hee and Shim Hye-jin |
| Spain | TVE | Jesús Álvarez Cervantes, Alfredo Urdaci, Helena Resano, Ramón García, Anne Igartiburu and Nuria Roca |
| Sri Lanka | MTV | no hosts |
| Sweden | TV3, SVT | no hosts |
| Switzerland | SRG SSR | no hosts |
| Taiwan | PTS | no hosts |
| Thailand | BBTV Channel 7 | no hosts |
| Tonga | TBC | no hosts |
| Trinidad and Tobago † | Trinidad and Tobago Television | no hosts |
| Ukraine | Novyi Kanal | no hosts |
| Inter | Vlad Ryashyn and Svitlana Leontyeva | |
| 1+1 | Yuriy Makarov | |
| United Kingdom | BBC One | David Dimbleby, Michael Parkinson, Michael Buerk, Peter Sissons, Peter Snow, Philippa Forrester, Bryan Daly, John Cunliffe, Ken Barrie, Jamie Theakston, Gaby Roslin, Huw Edwards, Shauna Lowry, Tim Vincent, Siân Lloyd, Noel Thompson, Kate Thornton, Fergal Keane, Tony Robinson, Jackie Bird, Kirsty Walk, Sian Williams, John Kettley, Dale Winton, Steve Wilson, Emma Ledden, Katy Hill and Alan Dedicoat |
| United States | ABC (ABC 2000 Today) | Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Charles Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas, Jack Ford, Sam Donaldson, Connie Chung, Cokie Roberts, Deborah Roberts, Carole Simpson, Morton Dean and Dick Clark |
| PBS | Various participants | |
| Uruguay | Teledoce, TNU | no hosts |
| Venezuela | RCTV | no hosts |
| Vietnam | VTV | Nguyễn Thanh Lâm and Thu Uyên |
| HTV | no hosts |