Moscow 2009: The 'Big Four' remains

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 most talked about entries of the year. Germany were 23rd and the United Kingdom finished in last place, both with 14 points.

Traditionally, the Big Four have done well at the Eurovision Song Contest. France and the United Kingdom have each won the competition five times, Spain twice and Germany once. The United Kingdom also holds the record for the most number of second place finishes and the most entries in the top three of the competition but their results have fallen dramatically in recent years. Spain's last win came 39 years ago, France have waited 31 years since their last victory, Germany's only win came in 1982 and the United Kingdom has won once since 1981.