:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

The official Eurovision Song Contest site, eurovision.tv has announced that the proposed changes to the Eurovision Song Contest format have been confirmed by the EBU Television committee. They have also announced that the preliminary date for rehearsals to start is Sunday 11th of May and the preliminary opening date for the press centre and accreditation desk is Saturday 10th of May. The Big Four countries, along with Serbia, will broadcast one semi final and have voting rights in it. They also have the option to broadcast the semi final that they are not voting in. The semi final draw, taking place at the Head of delegation meeting in January will determine which countries vote in each show as well as which countries participate in each semi final. All participating countries will be divided into a total of six pots from which half will enter the first semi final, and the remaining countries will participate in the second semi final. The running order of the semi finals and final wil

The popular website ESC Today has received confirmation that San Marino will participate the contest in Belgrade. The Sammarinese public broadcaster SMTV has applied to take part in the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. More information and reaction here

Montenegro's National Broadcaster, RTCG, confirmed to esctoday.com that they will participate at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The news comes just a few days after it was revealed that the broadcaster may not participate at the event next May. Montenegro took part at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time as an independent country in 2007 with Stefan Faddy and his song Ajde kroci. The song won only 33 points in the semi final to finish 23rd out of 28 countries, missing out on a place at the Eurovision Song Contest final one of only two former Yugoslav countries not to qualify. In a bizarre twist, The Austrian broadcaster will not be sending a representative to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 according to a press release issued yesterday. The broadcaster seems to have trouble drumming up interest in the Song Contest amongst its viewers in recent years. However the broadcaster says political questions about the semi-final organisation of the contest are at the root of

Well, well, well, haven't the EBU been busy. The recently published rules of Eurovision 2008 state that a maximum of 45 countries can take part - meaning a maximum of 20 countries in each semi final, plus the 5 prequalified countries (Serbia, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). Another issue discussed at the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group meeting in Belgrade last weekend was the Big Four and how they will fit into the new two semi-final format. It was confirmed by the EBU that the proposal put to the EBU Television Committee by the reference group includes the proposal that France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, along with host country, Serbia, will all broadcast and vote in one of the semi finals. the EBU Reference Group and RTS, next year's Eurovision Song Contest host broadcaster held their second meeting in Belgrade. The topics discussed were the 2008 theme art, the launch of the official website and most importantly the dates of the t

Slovakian national broadcaster STV will not be bringing the country back to the Eurovision Song Contest next year in Belgrade, Serbia. The last time Slovakia was seen at the comeptition was in 1998. Oikotimes reports that Slovakia won’t take part at the Eurovision Song Contest next year in Belgrade, Serbia. They received an email from the Slovakian broadcaster STV in which Denisa Dzunkova stated that unfortunately the country won’t participate cause of the limited budget of the broadcaster. Nevertheless, Dzunkova promised that the broadcaster will once again look into the possiblility of returning to the competition in the future. Slovakia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 and participated two more times, in 1996 and 1998. They achieved their best position (18th) in 1996 with Marcel Palonder and the song Kým Nás Máš.

San Marino, one of the world's smallest states, may be about to make it's Eurovision Song Contest debut. The news was given to OGAE Italy by email, in which a representative from San Marino Television claims that the broadcaster is seriously considering participation in 2008. All countries planning to participate at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest must summit an application to the European Broadcasting Union by November 15th 2007, 3 days from now. [ESC Today]

RTÉ has announced a new competition that will pick Ireland's entry to the next Eurovision Song Contest held in Belgrade, Serbia next May. Taking the continually changing nature of the contest itself together with this year's poor Irish result in Helsinki into account, RTÉ decided to take a new look at the strategy for selecting their entry. RTÉ will be selecting their entry by means of a national competition, to be called Eurosong 2008 . This approach will not be unlike the National Song Contest of previous years, but will encourage innovation not only in music but also in visual presentation, in keeping with the ESC contests we've seen in recent years. With that aim, RTÉ is inviting entries that include the song, the singer(s) and any proposed performance/staging details. In this scenario, it is expected that song entries will have singers attached when the entries are being submitted and that singers submitting entries will have agreed with the song composer that the