the Festival will be televised

The BBC have announced details of their planned coverage of Glastonbury Festival this summer.

A statement, (here), about a raft of new content and initiatives reveals:

"At Glastonbury, for the first time music fans will be able to choose from simultaneous live streams from all the major stages throughout the festival, allowing viewers to choose their favourite bands as if they were there. We will be offering the slickest and most comprehensive mobile coverage to date as we expect the numbers tuning in on mobile and tablet could reach 50 per cent – beating even the record 37 per cent who watched last year's Radio 1 Hackney Weekend."

The BBC has over the last 13 years been developing and evolving its red button services, which it offers to viewers at major events like Glastonbury, Wimbledon and Formula 1. BBC Red Button now attracts an audience of 20 million per month, peaking during this summer's Olympic Games, where 24.2 million viewers watched up to 24 live streams via the red button.

In 2011 there was extensive media coverage of Glastonbury Festival by the BBC including broadcasting across BBC radio, as well as their online portal. The total published viewing figures saw 18.6 million people tune into catch the Festival over the weekend. BBC Two's coverage made up the lion's share of viewers, reaching 15.7 million people, and the headline performers on the channel had an average audience of more than 1.5 million, with peaks of 2.6 million viewers for Beyonce, 2.2 million for Coldplay and 2.1 million for U2. BBC Three reached 6.7 million viewers and Mumford & Sons had the most-watched performance on the channel, with an average audience of 777,000 and a peak of 1.1 million. Elbow were second, with an average audience of 712,000. The Arts channel BBC Four pulled in 4.3 million viewers and U2's performance had the highest average audience on BBC Four, with 1.2 million people watching.

This year's offering of live streams from the major stages is sure to result in even higher figures this June.

Glastonbury Festival takes place from Wednesday 26th June until Monday 1st July 2013 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Somerset and, as ever, includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and a host of local charities and causes (in 2011, more than £2m was raised).

A further release of a limited number of cancelled tickets will happen on Sunday 21st April 2013, for those who have registered beforehand so that they are eligible to buy a ticket.

The number of tickets available will be quite limited, because these will be returns, not a second batch. The exact number of tickets in the resale will not be known until after the ticket balance payment window has closed on Monday 8th April. Tickets are usually limited to four per transaction.

UK ticket balances of £155 per ticket, will be payable in the first week of April 2013 following the Easter Weekend, from 9am Tuesday 2nd April until 23:59 Monday 8th April, when there will also be options to book everything else needed (tipis, campervan tickets, parking, cancellation protection). International ticket balance payments will be taken from 9am (GMT) Monday 25th February until 23:59 (GMT) Sunday 3rd March 2013. After this date any tickets not paid for in full will be offered to those who have registered.

Anyone who decides not to pay their balance in 2013 will be refunded their deposit, minus a £10 administration fee.

Anyone aged 13 or over (when the Festival starts) who wishes to buy a ticket must be registered.

Registration does not reserve or guarantee you a ticket in the resale, but if you don't register you will not be able to buy a weekend ticket for Glastonbury Festival 2013. Online registration for 2013 can be carried out by clicking here.

Malian singer Rokia Traore is the only act confirmed so far, and the full line-up won't be revealed until mid-April, although the first names are expected be announced sometime before that. As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2013 rumours, updated as we receive information. Help us to help you - if you hear of a band that's playing, please let us know.

Expect something like 2,000 performances at 50 or so venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

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