:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Andrew Lloyd Webber has ruled out composing "some silly nonsense song" for the UK's Eurovision Song Contest entry. Lord Lloyd-Webber has been asked by the BBC to put together the UK entry for Eurovision 2009 and will mentor the act selected to perform it. -

Albania was the first country to hold its national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Kejsi Tola won the 47th edition of the Festivali i kenges. With the song Më mërr në ëndërr (Take me into your dreams) , she will be the sixth Albanian entrant in the competition. 20 songs were presented in the national final and a jury picked the winner. The song Më mërr në ëndërr was written by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, the team behind Anjeza Shahini's 2004 entry The image of you. Reaching 7th place in Istanbul, it remains the country's most successful entry to date. -

Latvian broadcaster LTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they have withdrawn from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The broadcaster will not face any penalty for the withdrawal and are already working to return to the competition in 2010. LTV confirms " The reason for withdrawal is that our government decided to cut down LTV's budget for 2,4 million Lats (3,5 million EUR) and LTV's board decided to close several entertainment programmes including the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. " -

The Georgian flag will finally be flown in the Olympiysky Arena during one of the semi finals of the 2009 contest. It was a sad day for the Eurovision Song Contest when back in August 2008 it was announced that Georgia would not take part in the 2009 edition to be held in Moscow due to political reasons. Today, it has been confirmed by YLE executive Kjell Ekholm, member of the EBU Reference Group, that Georgia will indeed be returning for 2009. The return may have been influenced by the country's victory in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, and further encouraged by the 12 points awarded to them by Russia. Source: ESC Today -

RTÉ has published its rules for its National Final to be held provisionally for Friday, February 20th 2009. The competition will be called Eurosong 2009. There will be a Late Late Show Eurosong Special on a date to be confirmed in late February or early March, where six shortlisted songs and performers will compete to decide Ireland's entry. RTÉ is now inviting entries that include the song, the singer(s) and any proposed performance/staging details. In this scenario, songwriters entering will have a singer or singers selected when the entries are submitted. Singers submitting entries will have agreed with the song composer that they will perform that song composer's work. The closing date and time for entries will be noon on Monday, the 2nd of February, 2009. Entries should be submitted to Eurosong 2009, RTÉ Entertainment, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, Ireland. FULL DETAILS HERE RTE COVERAGE -

With San Marino out of 2009 and Latvia nearing withdrawal, is there other countries withdrawing from 2009 due to financial reasons. As we all know, the list of participants has traditionally been made public in early December. The delay in revealing the final list of countries taking part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest suggests that there are still countries that have yet to confirm that they will procede with their participation. Lithunaian national broadcaster LVT has claimed that not competing in the Eurovision Song Contest could be a cost saving measure. Monaco may not compete in 2009 for the same reason. Who knows what will happen, but the list of participates for 2009 will make interesting reading. Read: Article from ESCTIME -

What were rumours is now fact, San Marino will not participate in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The Broadcaster has informed the EBU that despite wanting to participate, it will not be able to meet all of the necessary criteria for entering the competition in Moscow. San Marino's withdrawal from the competition after just one year of particiaption. Initally, the national broadcaster of San Marino, SMRTV, had applied to enter the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. This sad news today comes as the EBU maintains discussions to keep Latvia in the competition. Reports in the last two days have confirmed that the Baltic state is looking to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. Source: ESC Today. -

Latvian national broadcaster, LTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they have informed the EBU that they intend to withdraw from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The reason is simply financial and the broadcaster is currently battling to save it's full range of television and radio channels. FULL STORY HERE -

Looks like the theory on Johnny Logan is totally out the window! RTÉ, the Irish broadcaster, has announced that it is having an Open National Selection to choose the Irish representative(s) for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Similar to their format in 2007, RTÉ are experiencing financial difficulties this time round and will instead be holding the selection on a special edition of The Late Late Show provisionally set for Friday February 20th, 2009 in Dublin. Song writers are asked to submit their songs to RTÉ as soon as possible for to be included in the running of the competition. While the micro details of the show to be held on February 20th are still under discussion, these matters will be clarrified on a later date. Source: ESC Today.com -

Three times winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980, 1987 and writer of 1992, Johnny Logan may represent Ireland once again for the fourth time in 2009. It has been reported exclusively on esctoday.com that in an article that appears in "The Sunday Tribune", it reads that "Logan set to relight the flame for Eurovision." If this is true, it is just what Ireland needs and will become the biggest story of Eurovision Song Contest 2009. After disappointing results for Ireland in recent years, bar the odd exception, the Irish public broadcaster, RTÉ, are set to "be pulling out all the stops to get three-time Eurovision winner Logan (54) to sing at the 2009 show in Moscow." According to the Sunday Tribune, "RTÉ will offer Johnny Logan his own TV show if he represents Ireland... The deal is said to include a lump sum for Logan as well as his own prime time music show. This is similar to a package offered to Brian Kennedy after he rescued Ireland's E

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Dilas handed over a giant key ring with Perspex symbols of each city that has hosted the Eurovision Song Contest to Luzhkov at a ceremony to kick off Moscow's preparations for the contest, which will be held at Olimpiisky Stadium and culminate with finals in the Luzhniki Stadium on May 16. READ MORE FROM THE MOSCOW TIMES

According to Oikotimes , EBU's Svante Stockselius said that we will have a record of participating countries. The statement of Svante Stockselius took place during the insignia exchange of the host city. Though Mr Stockselius didn't gave any details on the participating countries. This means that the upcoming list of participating countries will include a number of 44 countries or more. The following statements are being made by various websites and fans about the countries that are in and out: Monaco and San Marino are in 2009 despite rumours . Georgia will participate in 2009 after winning the 2008 Junior Eurovision, despite claiming they will not participate due to policitial reasons. Kosovo will participate in 2009. Lebanon will return in 2009 after the 2005 issue . Luxembourg may return. Italy may return. Austria may return due to changes in the voting . To be honest I could agree with statement 1 & 7. Georgia will not participate as the contest is been held in Russ

Those people who are writing a song for the Irish selection may as well put down their pen as it appears that RTÉ Television has had a complete change of mind on its selection process, from the plans it was making in the autumn and has reverted to an internal selection for the performer. The popular and my faviourite Irish website All Kinds of Everything reports that the Irish national broadcaster is believed to have ditched plans for a large scale multi-artist national final in favour of a " Late Late Show " special, using one of Ireland's best known performers, to be staged in late February. Once again it is believed that the public will choose which song will carry the Irish colours at Eurovision, although there may not be a open call for songs as there was in 2006 and 2007. RTÉ was to have announced details of its 2009 Eurovision selection by the end of November. Please be reminded that RTE have not announced the details yet of

Today, the EBU exclusively announced that jury and televoters will each have a 50% stake in the outcome of the Final . The proposal, made by the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest, has already been approved by the European Broadcasting Union's TV Committee. This Wednesday and Thursday, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest will meet in Moscow to decide upon the exact way the national juries will be composed, and to discuss rules to assure a fair jury vote. It was already announced to EBU Member broadcasters that the jury members should all be music industry professionals.

Out of all the news I have had to gather and research for this blog for the last 2 years, I have never had to write so much about Wogan like I have for the last few months. The BBC website reveals today that Terry Wogan will no longer be the face of Eurovision in the United Kingdom. The 70-year old Irishman has been involved with Eurovision for 35 years, both as a commentator and as a host for the UK national finals. He was also the host of the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham in 1998 together with Ulrika Jonsson. Fellow Irishman from Co. Cork Graham Norton will replace him. Norton will host the new format UK selection show series “Eurovision: Your country needs you” in January as well as commentate the final from Moscow in May. Wogan tells the BBC he feels “sad to leave it all behind after 35 wonderful years of commentating Eurovision for radio and television” . "From my first, in a small musichall in Dublin, to my last, in the huge arena in Belgrade, it has been nothing bu

Oikotimes.com has reported that despite their original decision that they will reply to the EBU on December 8th with a very positive mind towards their participation in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, sources have told the website that both Monaco and San Marino will be absent from Eurovision 2009. If this is true, the number of countries confirmed for 2009 will be 42. Of course this is not confirmed, although we will get a clearer view of participates on the 8th December.

Although we are not big fans of this "passing over" new tradition, it has been announced that on the 10th December the passing of the Eurovision ring will take place in Moscow. The mayor of Belgrade will travel to Moscow and during a special ceremony he will hand the keys of Eurovision to his counterpart. The passing over event was created in 2007 in Finland and involves the creation of a key for the host city which is then added to the current keys and kept at the host city for 12 months until the process is recreated once again. We always think here that once a country wins the contest, thats it! its been passed over straight away to the new host country. I loved it when things were so much easier!

This has totally nothing to do with Eurovision but I have to talk about it. Recession really has hit the Irish Broadcaster RTE big time. Pat Kenny (Eurovision Host 1988), hosts the popular Late Late Show every Friday. As the video shows below, they had competition winner who is rude and does not care about the prize, plus a group called "Satanic Sluts" which are supposed to be entertainment. RTE, you always amaze me! No wonder they will be no big Eurosong show next year.

RTE, the Irish National Broadcaster, is due to make an announcement around the end of the month on the selection details, with a National Final to be held, provisionally set for Friday 22nd February 2009. Due to the current financial crisis, the Irish broadcaster is experiencing a shortage of funding for large scale television projects. This means that the National Final in 2009 won't be as well budgeted as the Eurosong 2008 national selection show held in Limerick last February. esctoday.com reports that the 2009 show will be similar to that of the National Final held in 2006 & 2007 on RTÉ's most popular television light-entertainment programme, The Late Late Show. Brian Kennedy and Dervish were the representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 and 2007 of whom sang Every Song is A Cry for Love and They Can't Stop the Spring respectively. Source: ESC Today.com NL

Georgia has won the sixth edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The group Bzikebi took home the trophy with the song "Bzzz" getting 154 points, 19 more than the runner-up from Ukraine. THE RESULTS: 154 - Georgia 135 - Ukraine 103 - Lithuania 100 - Malta 093 - F.Y.R. Macedonia 086 - Belarus 073 - Russia 059 - Armenia 058 - Romania 046 - Cyprus 045 - Belgium 037 - Serbia 027 - The Netherlands 019 - Greece 015 - Bulgaria Full Scoreboard

Spanish broadcaster TVE will continue relying on the Myspace.com method to pick the country's entry for Eurovision 2009. Next year's selection process will be called Eurovision 2009: The return and will be presented on Monday 24th. From that date, entries can already be submitted to the broadcaster according to ESC Today. This is a surprise to me as they probably picked one of the worst songs in Spanish Eurovision history last year. Lets hope a better song will be picked next year. It is also rumoured that Irish Broadcaster RTE will choose the song for Eurovision by using My Space aswell. This however has not been confirmed yet by RTE.

It looks likely that Monaco, who last took part in the contest in 2006, is to make a return in 2009. It seems that talks with the EBU have led to TMC, the Monégasque broadcaster, to apply to take part in the 2009 competition, although they still have until the deadline to make their final decision. Changes to the voting system in which the jury now affects the results is thought to be the main reason for Monaco's return. Monaco last won the contest in 1971 in Dublin. If Monaco do return, the total number of countries taking part will be 44, a record breaking number of participates, despite Georgia's withdrawal and Austria's continued boycott. The final list of countries participating in Moscow is expected by the end of the year.

Hungarian national broadcaster MTV have confirmed to oikotimes.com that they will participate in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Rumours surrounding Hungary's participation and a possible withdrawal had sprung up following Csézy's disappointing result in Belgrade, but as it stands MTV will be present in Moscow. Information regarding the national final for the Hungarian selection are to be announced soon.

Found this on Russia Today . Do they know something we don't know?

The costs for preparing and holding Eurovision 2009 in Moscow will amount to over EUR29 million, Russia’s Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov announced . Zhukov heads the Organization Committee on Eurovision Preparation. The funds have been laid aside in the federal budget, Zhukov said. Moscow will inject some money in addition, the vice premier specified, reminding that the contest will be held May 9 through to May 16 in Olympiisky Sport Complex and Channel One will broadcast the event. Russia will spend over double the amount Finland paid in 2007 (€12.4 million) due to the fact they are hosting 3 shows. I cant find the figure for the 2008 Contest but will add it when I do find it.

It has been announced on the official of Dutch broadcaster NOS that Jeroen van der Boom will be the new Topper and take the place of Gerard Joling. Gerard Joling left the trio on 10th November and it was rumoured that NOS may need to find some other group to represent the country. Jeroen van der Boom was chosen to fill in his place. Gordon and Rene Froger seem thrilled with the addition of the particular new member: " Jeroen has an amazing voice and we're convinced that he will do a great job !" they stated.

It has been reported that Poland will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. There was doubt that Poland would not participate due to the Russian invasion in Georgia recently and also due to the fact that TVP will be the host broadcaster of the Eurovision Dance Contest 2009 in Warsaw after winning the contest in September in Glasgow. Since participating for the first time in 1994, this will be Poland's 14th time in the contest. They did not qualify for the contest in 2000 or 2002, but has participated in every contest since then.

Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG will continue its sponsorship of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009 according to reports today. The deal negotiated was negotiated by the Eurovision Song Contest's marketing partner, T.E.A.M. The bank is a major financial player in Eastern Europe and the next Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Russia, one of the bank's most important markets. There was doubt as to whether the bank would sponsor the contest due to the current economic crisis, but the announcement comes as good news to the EBU. Director of Eurovision TV, Bjørn Erichsen, said: "The EBU is delighted to keep Raiffeisen International, a company with an excellent reputation and strong presence in many of the participating countries, in the Eurovision family as the first Presenting Sponsor of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The renewal of this partnership proves the strength of the Eurovision Song Contest as Europe's biggest communication platform in m

RTÉ, the Irish Television broadcaster has confirmed to esctoday.com , that Ireland will participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 to be staged in Moscow, although they are not ready to announce any details about the way in which their entry will be selected yet. RTE have remained very quiet since Dustin the Turkey's representation at Eurovision 2008 in Belgrade last May, but there was no doubt Ireland would return due to the return of the jury to the Eurovision voting. Ireland have won the contest 7 times, their most recent win was in 1996 .

Hadise will represent Turkey in Eurovision Song Contest 2009. TRT confirmed that she was one of the final artists in negotiations with the broadcaster to represent Turkey in Moscow. She is one of the most popular pop, soul and r'n'b singer in Turkey and also in Europe.

Paddy Power, the Irish bookmakers have been quick to offer odds on the United Kingdom's chances of success at the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. After it was confirmed that Andrew Lloyd Webber would pen the song and select the act, the book makers are offering a near reversal on the country's expected outcome compared to 2008. Paddy Power are offering odds of 9/1 for a United Kingdom victory at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. They are also offering odds of 3/1 on the song going to number one in the official UK charts. Odds of 40/1 are being offered on the United Kingdom finishing in last place again in 2009, with odds of 100/1 on the country receiving 'nil points' for the musical theatre master's efforts. Source: ESCToday.com NL

As mentioned earlier , Andrew Lloyd Webber said today he has officially accepted the “mission impossible” as he attempts to win the Eu rovision song contest for the United Kingdom. The composer of musical hits including the 'Phantom of the Opera', 'Evita', and 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat', will pen the UK’s Eurovision entry and search for the perfect voice to perform it in Moscow next year. However, in a competition dogged by accusations of ’bloc-voting’, which led presenter Terry Wogan to threaten walking out on the competition he first hosted 35 years ago, Webber has admitted it will be his toughest challenge yet. He said: “In my life I have never shied away from the impossible and this looks like the biggest mission impossible of all time, but with the might of the British public behind me who knows what will happen?” The composer will embark on a televised talent search for the vocalist and hopefuls have until November 21 to send their audi

Ralph Siegel, who keeps the record of having composed the most songs for the Eurovision Song Contest, has stated that he wants to take part in the competition again. He has already composed a song and chosen a singer, who is still kept a secret. 63-year-old Ralph Siegel has stated that he has written about 30 or 40 exposés over the last few months until he has chosen his personal winner. He told: "It is my dream to represent Germany again and, of course, I also want to win again." He composed the only German winning song in the competition, Ein bißchen Frieden, back in 1982. In total, he wrote 18 songs in the competition for Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Source: ESC Today

Director of 1FL TV, Liechtensteins first own television station, Peter Heeb, told eurofire.blog.de that the broadcaster has currently no plans to join the EBU, because they don't have the budget for an active EBU membership. An option for 1FL TV is, that a suitable sponsor will finance the membership. Then they will decide, if it will be possible to join the European Broadcasting Union. Until they are not in the EBU, Liechtenstein won't have the chance to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Liechtenstein has tried to take part twice in the past. Both attempts failed because they don't have a national broadcaster. News Source: OIKOTIMES.com resources

Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović, the hosts of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest are dating and have found themselves in all Serbian media as a result. After Eurovision the two were often seen together in cafes and restaurants in Belgrade although both had relationships at the time. The defining moment is expected to have occurred in June when the couple was invited to attend Jean-Paul Gaultier’s fashion show in Paris. Both ended their relationships upon their return to Serbia but denied they were dating. In July and August the couple was seen holidaying together in Spain and Montenegro while Jovana accompanied Željko to his concert in Bulgaria in early September. They finally publically showed their affection in late September when the couple attended the concert of the Greek singer Antonis Remos in Belgrade. I always love a happy ending! News Source: OIKOTIMES.com resources

As some may know already, Google is celebrating ten years since the launch of their search engine in 1998. As part of their celebrations, Google launched a sub section of the search engine back in 2001 , which shows the results you would have gotten back in that year. Pictured: ESC Today logo back in 2001. 2001 was very different to today, internet wise. Remember there was no "You Tube" or "Wikipedia" back then. Here at Eurovision 24, we said we would have a little fun and do a bit of Eurovision searching of our own. We searched for the " Eurovision Song Contest " and we would see what it would bring up. First to come top of the search results is songcontest.nl , a website popular at the time, but has not been updated for quite some time. For some unusual reason, there was no mention of www.songcontest.com , the official website for Eurovision Song Contest 2001 in Denmark. Remember the official Eurovision Song Contest website Eurovision.tv , did not exist

After a year-long facelift that forced music fans to tramp south of the Liffey to get their live fix, the re-christened and revamped Point Depot which hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 3 times, will open in just three months' time. The line-up for the official opening of the rather unimaginatively named O2 Arena on December 16 is still a closely guarded secret, although the Kings of Leon have been confirmed for two nights later. Counting Crows and Coldplay will also take to the new stage in the following days. Read the full report from the Irish Independent

Good news! Coming back after 11 years, Slovakian public broadcaster STV has announced that it will bring Slovakia back to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow next year. For several years now, Slovakia was reluctant to join the Eurovision Song Contest again due to their budget problems according to popular site esctoday.com. It seems the broadcaster is now able to enter for 2009. Slovakia took part for the first time in Dublin 1994 when Tublatanka finished 19th, two years later Marcel Palonder spawned 18th place. The last Slovak entry could be heard in 1998 scoring only 8 points, what led Katarína Hasprová to end 21st, a song that did not deserve that result.

Once again, Austria have decided that they will not take part in Eurovision 2009 according to Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung. However the final in Moscow on the 16th May will be broadcast live on ORF with commentating from Andi Knoll. The semi finals won't be broadcast. This is a surprise to some people, as it was thought that they may return to the contest after the EBU announced changes in the voting procedure which sees the return of the jury. Austria withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest after failing to reach the final in 2005. They returned in 2007 but Eric Papilaya finished 27th in the semi final and ORF withdrew again before the 2008 competition. ORF's Wolfgang Lorenz stated that in the contest "the quality of the entries is not important but only which countries sent them". Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest once in 1966 with Udo Jürgens and Merci Chérie.

Dutch broadcaster NOS just confirmed that "De Toppers" (Gerard Joling, Gordon and Rene Froger) will represent The Netherlands at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. It's yet to be decided what song they will sing.

Yes its true, you are reading it right. An Asian version of the Eurovision Song Contest is to take place next year, it has been announced. The competition is set to involve 15 countries, including India and China, with a series of regional and national heats culminating in a grand final. Several countries have expressed an interest in hosting the final, which could be watched by up to 500m viewers. Asiavision Song Contest organisers say "the universal language of music will help bring people closer together". Other countries who will be involved in the contest include Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and the Philippines. Cambodia, South Korea, Taiwan, Laos, Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore are also set to take part in the project. Andreas Gerlach, head of Asiavision, the company which has purchased the Eurovision Song Contest format for Asia, said it was "highly suited" to the region. "Its people love popular music and have strong national pride. The

At a meeting at ETV headquarters earlier today, it was decided that Estonia will not boycott the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest and will participate in Moscow. Earlier this year, a member of the Estonian Parliament had campaigned for the country to miss the event in Moscow and for Latvia and Lithuania to join them in responce to Russian activity in Georgia.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has been drafted in to help pick Britain’s next Eurovision entry. The move comes as competition bosses announced an overhaul of the final’s voting process to avoid another favouritism fiasco. Multi-millionaire Andrew, 60, is being lined up as a lead judge or mentor on an X Factor-style Saturday night selection show, hosted by Graham Norton. It comes after this year’s British hopeful — former X Factor runner up Andy Abrahams — came joint last. The contest was attacked amid claims Eastern European countries voted mostly for each other — especially towards winners Russia. So Eurovision bosses last night announced that this year, instead of each country getting its say, a jury will award points with the public also having a vote. The move will cheer the BBC’s veteran host Terry Wogan, who deplored rival countries’ tactics live on air last year. He is also expected to quit his role as the final’s commentator after 35 years in another change to the BBC’s coverage. A corpo

You will have noticed a few changes to the blog just now, as we have renamed our site to " Eurovision 24 " as part of our upgrade plan. The reason for change is due to the popular introduction of the Eurovision Dance Contest launched last year. As we were named as a Eurovision Song Contest news site, it did not feel right to talk about the Eurovision Dance Contest. By having the site named just as "Eurovision", we can cover all areas of the Eurovision Contest - song, dance and junior. The Eurovision Song Contest will be covered the most in great detail compared to the other two contests. No features to the site have been affected by the rebranding.

Although NTU of Ukraine won the rights to host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, it seems that the management of the state-run UT1 TV channel has been trying hard to overcome the channel's financial difficulties, the acting head of the State TV and Radio Company, Vasyl Ilashchuk, has said in an interview with a business daily. He said that the management has decided to declare redundant half of the channel's personnel to be able to upgrade its technical equipment and launch new projects. He added, however, that the changes will be implemented gradually. Read news report

The EBU Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest have decided to introduce a voting model of a mix between televoting and jury votes in the 2009 Final. The decision has been greatly welcomed from broadcasters and fans. No change will be made in the voting during the Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. The outcome was the result of lengthy considerations and detailed discussion on a wide variety of models. Details on the balance between jury and televoting outcome are still to be determined in the months to come. Ruurd Bierman, Chairman of the Reference Group, explained the decision: "We strongly believe in televoting as a way of measuring the opinion of our millions of viewers across Europe. After the public debate about neighbor- and diaspora voting, we decided to give the national juries a say in the outcome of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest." A survey amongst delegation heads from represented countries revealed that a majority is in favor of such mixed mode

More news from meetings in Moscow today have confirmed that France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom will not lose their 'Big Four' privilege of an automatic place in the Eurovision Song Contest final. Are we surprised? no. I get the sudden feeling that if they lost that "privilege" of their place in the final, then I would not be surprised if one or two countries withdrew. We must admit though, they do finance about 40% of the contest. Following another year of poor results for the Eurovision Song Contest 'Big Four', many media speculated that the four countries would surrender their automatic place in the final of the competition. As the four large financial contributors to the competition, their entries have been automatically qualified for the final since the introduction of a semi final in 2004. There will be no change in that status in Moscow. In Belgrade, Spain finished in 16th place and France could only manage 19th position, despite having two of

The Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest has been in Moscow since yesterday discussing issues ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Channel One Russia, Host Broadcaster in charge of the contest next May has been noted for been muted since winning the contest in May. It is no surprise that today, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest has officially approved Moscow as the Host City of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, as proposed by Channel One. The governing body of the song contest also approved the Olympiski Arena as the venue of the event in May 2009. Svante Stockselius, EBU's Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said to Eurovision.tv: "Moscow is an impressive city and the proposed venue gives us the fantastic possibility to put everything under one roof. We are confident that Channel One Russia will organize a fantastic 54th Eurovision Song Contest." Today, the Reference Group is discussing another much debated issue - the vo

TVP, the Polish broadcaster have not ruled out the possibility to withdraw from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, but their final decision will be made after the EBU announces any changes in the voting procedure according to ESC Today . One of the changes proposed by TVP is the introduction of an international jury whose role will be similar to the one in the Eurovision Dance Contest. TVP have submitted a proposal to the EBU, regarding changes in the voting system, which they feel will help in the direction of diminishing the impact of neighbourly voting on the outcome of the contest and place more emphasis on the artistic value of the song. The Polish broadcaster proposes, among other things, the introduction of an international jury similar to the one used in the Eurovision Dance Contest. Aneta Wrone, TVP spokesperson, announced that any decision on whether Poland will participate in the next Eurovision Song Contest will be taken after the EBU has announced new rules and will depend

In this week’s edition of the UK’s biggest selling celebrity magazine Heat, Nicky Johnston, interview Sir Terry Wogan. Read the full report from ESC Today

Andorran Television has confirmed that it would be participating at ESC 2009 with a revised setup according to Oikotimes . Andorran Television will be fully in charge of choosing the person to represent Andorra in Moscow. The proposal includes a suggestion for three semifinals, which will involve both a Jury and televoting. After this there is a proposal for one final where the representative will be chosen.

Congratulations to Poland, deserving winners of the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest which was held in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom on Saturday 6th September. 14 countries took part in a well organised production show by the British broadcaster, BBC, which also hosted the contest last year. Marcin Mroczek & Edyta Herbus won the contest with their fusion of Rumba, Cha-cha & comtemporary Jazz Dance to a medley of Michael Jackson songs. Second place went to Russia and Ukraine finished third. However the way the judges votes were sorted have confused viewers. 4 professional judges give their votes after each dance from 1 - 12. After the judges gave their votes, Denmark were in 1st place. Ireland, Austria and the Netherlands who had the lowest number after the judges vote, were given "0" when it came to the public voting. Many viewers from Austria, Ireland and The Netherlands have expressed their disappointment with this way of the voting as there was no way after the ju

Although not confirmed yet, Oikotimes is reporting that Philipp Kirkorov is close to signing a deal with Channel One Russia to become the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest host. The news is soon to be officially confirmed, according to Oikotimes sources. Kirkorov has had a long history with the Eurovision Song Contest. He represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 held in Dublin with the song "Kolybelnaya dlya vulkana" and finished in 17th place. He co-wrote the Belarusian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 , "Work Your Magic" for Dmitry Koldun , and wrote the 2008 Ukrainian entry "Shady Lady" , performed by Ani Lorak . He was also a judge in the second season of Music Idol in Bulgaria.

This morning's Mirror UK newspaper reports that next year's Eurovision Song Contest is under threat after ex-Soviet states called for a boycott after Russia invaded Georgia. Baltic nations Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia may pull out of the contest in Moscow in support of the embattled country. A poll in Estonia has already backed a boycott. Pressure is rising for a Polish withdrawal. Both the Baltic nations and former eastern bloc countries helped clinch victory for Russian singer Dima Bilan, 26, this year. Estonia's culture minister Laine Janes, said: "Solidarity must exist with Lithuania and Latvia to show consolidated support for Georgia." But Svante Stockselius, of organiser the European Broadcasting Union, said: "These issues should not be linked. We are organising a non-political event."

News source from: Oikotimes Morocco only entered once at the Eurovision Song Contest and the result was not encouraging - 2nd last place in with Samira Ben Said's Bitaqat hob. For 28 years Europe has been waiting for a follow-up entry from Morocco, but none have been forthcoming. However, with a new Moroccan broadcaster interested in becoming an active member of the EBU, this could change in the next few years! The Moroccan broadcaster, who is a founding member of the EBU and took part in the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest, is SNRT. After coming 2nd last in the competition, SNRT decided not to enter again. Probably SNRT was also influenced by political motivations. However, a rival Moroccan television station, one that is not directly influenced by the Moroccan government, is now interested in joining the EBU. 2MTV has long been a source for free speech and taboo-breaking in Morocco, and is especially popular with the Moroccan Diaspora in countries like France and the Netherlands. A

1FLTV, the new television station for Liechtenstein, began broadcasting on the 15th August 2008. It is the world's first ever television station based in Liechtenstein. It is stated clearly in the rules that any country wishing to enter the Eurovision Song Contest must have a national broadcaster that is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union. For Liechtenstein, a tiny Alpine microstate nestled between Austria & Switzerland, this has prevented them from entering in the past, until now. If Liechtenstein do apply to join the contest, it won't be the first time. Liechtenstein wanted to participate in the 1969 contest, and got as far as choosing the song Un beau matin ("A Beautiful Morning") to represent it. Unfortunately, the country – having no broadcasting company of its own and thus not being a member of the EBU – was not allowed to participate. Liechtenstein once again attempted to submit an entry to the contest in 1976, but as they still had n

It has been reported today in Estonian media that Georgia has decided not to participate at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Russia. The decision comes during the current political situation between Russia and Georgia. According to the reports, the CEO of GPB, Georgia's public broadcaster, states that whilst respecting that the competition is non-political, he believes Russia should not be allowed to host the competition and that it cannot guarantee the safety of it's representatives. Estonian media reports that the Georgian public broadcaster has announced they will withdraw from the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in protest against Russian politics. The Chief Executive Officer of the broadcaster Levan Kubaneichvili said that "Eurovision cannot be held in a country which violates human rights and international law and does not respect democratic values". The Georgian broadcaster is also not sure that Russia can guarantee the safety of all participants according to t

Many websites including esctoday.com are today reporting that the Estonia's Minister of Culture, Laine Jänes is now discussing a possible boycott of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Moscow, due to the latest developments between Russia and Georgia, following a proposal made by Sulev Valner, editor-in-chief of Maaleht, one of Estonia's largest weekly newspapers. esctoday.com also reports that Ms Jänes seems to be taking a balanced approach to the issue. Whereas, on one hand she suggests that a common boycott strategy with Latvia and Lithuania could be a possibility, she also made it clear that it is a matter that should be thoroughly discussed and many factors are to be taken into consideration. One of those being the viewpoints of local artists: " Some might ask whether it is right to punish the artists, as the contest is very important to them", she said. Ms Jänes also emphasised that culture should be like a bridge between countries and pe

In an exclusive interview with the Radio Times, The BBC's Eurovision commentator, Terry Wogan has confirmed that he is stepping down as the BBC's Eurovision host after 37 years. The 70-year-old presenter is tired of the "political voting" which determines the outcome. Russia won the contest in Belgrade this year, while the UK's Andy Abrahams scraped just 14 points. "I was considering giving up before Belgrade, and now I have to say I'm very doubtful about ever wanting to do Eurovision again. I've had so much fun, but I think it's time for someone else to take over," he said. READ THE FULL REPORT FROM THE TELEGRADH (UK)

As the Olympics are well underway, The governing body of the Olympics told all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) that no audio or video material gathered inside the accredited area could be streamed outside their home country. The EBU disputed the restrictions earlier this year but was not successful. While it is common to restrict worldwide streaming of actual sporting events, the depth of these restrictions are highly unusual. For instance, if an Irish presenter was to interview an Irish person via a mobile phone and they happened to be in an official Olympic car, the IOC requires that interview is blocked. As such, live streams of all news programmes will not be accessible outside any EBU broadcasting country. 'This is an unfortunate policy given the size of the Irish Diaspora,' says RTÉ.ie News Editor Joe Zefran. '45% of our users come from outside of Ireland which means almost half of our audience will be underserved during the Olympics.' Source: RTE