:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Ukrainian media officials say Russian singer Dima Bilan's win in the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade was rigged. The statement was published by a Ukrainian newspaper. Read more

Oikotimes reports that there have been rumours that the Eurovision Song Contest venue will be the Olympic Loezjniki stadium in Moscow, Russia. This venue can have up to 84,000 visitors. Only a week ago, the UEFA Champion's League final was held there. The Russian broadcaster has not confirmed the venue yet.

Russian Eurovision winner Dima Bilan will be online on Friday on RTÉ.ie for a webchat. The singer of the Eurovision-winning 'Believe' will be online on Friday 30 May from 1.30pm to 2.30pm to answer fans' questions. [Update] Read the web chat here .

The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain (also known as the 'Big 4' countries) could lose their guaranteed place in the Eurovision Song Contest final following criticism that the event is becoming increasingly biased against western European countries. Read more UK could lose free pass to final

Mircea Ostoia from Romania, suggests new voting system .

According to NITRO Radio, Sakis Rouvas is interested to represent Greece in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The Greek superstar is already negotiating and preparing his project to be submitted by the end of the summer to the Greek national broadcaster. Sakis Rouvas represented Greece in the 2004 Eurovision edition where he qualified from the semifinal and ranked 3rd in the final. In 2006 he hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.

ESC Today reports that after claims that the British broadcaster, BBC, would withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest after a series of disappointing results, a spokesperson from the channel has told a British newspaper that they shall not withdraw. The spokesperson told The Mirror that "as far as the BBC is concerned, the contest represents great value for money for its viewers". Also read an interesting blog post by GulfStreamBlues

esctoday.com investigates the changing powerhouses of Eurovision from a new angle.

One year after Finland hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, the contest is back in Helsinki in the shape of the 2008 Winner's Tour. A few hours ago, Dima's delegation arrived on Helsinki-Vantaa airport... but without Dima! Read more

Funny report by Jerome Reilly of the Irish Independent of how Ireland's Eurovision selection process is to be reviewed after yet another failure.

The Danes got it for free last Saturday night but the Irish people had to pay three times as much as the Brits for the same pleasure of voting in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. For voting in the Eurovision Song Contest costed the Irish Public 60c a time to support their favourite acts in last Saturday night's final. Viewers in the United Kingdom had to pay two-thirds what it costs in different countries to phone or text in a vote for the contest. Voters in countries like Iceland had to pay 87c a time for the privilege of voting. Viewers in Spain got what was Europe's highest bill, €1.86 per call, and the Greeks paid as much as €1.19 a time voting. Last Tuesday the European Consumer Centre's Iceland office released a survey of voting costs in selected Eurovision nations to raise awareness about the cost of public voting in TV Shows. Some of the other countries voting costs (In Euro): Ireland: 60c a time Belgium: 50c Czech Republic: 36c The Netherlands: 35c United...

A Liberal Democrat MP has called on the BBC to withdraw its funding for the Eurovision Song Contest. Richard Younger-Ross, who has tabled a Commons motion slamming the voting as "a joke", said: "It no longer has anything to do with music." He said: "The BBC are one of the four main funders of the competition, and should withdraw their contribution until there is a fair voting system." Source

Oikotimes reports that Moscow has been confirmed as Eurovision 2009 host city. The city recently hosted the Football Champions League, and is known as the most expensive city in the world. Due to strict restrictions, it will be hard for people to attend the show. UPDATE: Negotiations between the EU and Russia on introducing a visa waiver programme will not be in place before May and most foreigners will still need visa to enter the Russian Federation. The only exceptions are Montenegro, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus and Israel who's passport holders don't need a visa. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN YOUR COUNTRY.

After more than 30 years in the Eurovision Seat, Terry Wogan said he may quit as the BBC's Eurovision commentator. BBC News covers the story BBC Blog post

You can choose to agree or disagree with it, but ESC Today have done a good detailed analysis of the Semi - Finals and the Final last night. Click the links below for more. Analysis: Semi Final 1 Analysis: Semi Final 2 Analysis: What if? Analysis: Final Analysis: East v West ESC Big Mouth is not responsible for the content of information from external websites.

Well its over for another year, and I am not surprised at all by the result, you will remember earlier in the day, I mentioned that Russia had a good chance of winning on the grounds that going by the trend, every country that has won from 2001, has been first time winners, but I "believe" (See how I got the song in) it was a good song anyway, so those trends don't seem important. I am just having a good nose around websites here. CNN covered the story really quickly after the contest. BBC News report covers their countries disastrous result coming last (Ireland feel your pain UK). Also their prediction of Sweden winning was totally wrong, but I was surprised that Sweden did come 18th tonight, was expecting way more. I was even more surprised to learn that only for the jury , she would not have been even in the final. Of course, like every year like a broken record, The Eurovision fan websites are covering the same old "Bloc voting", "East v West",...

This is an unconfirmed story but the All Kinds of Everything blog reveals that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest may be held in Peterburgsky in St.Petersburg, Russia . More about the venue here. Venue's official website (In Russian).

Dima Bilan - along with the ice dancer and violinist begin by thanking the organisers of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest at a press conference tonight. Read more from Oikotimes>>> Read more from eurovision.tv>>

Oikotimes reports, that in his closing remarks on tonight's 53rd Running of the Eurovision Song Contest, the United Kingdom's commentator Terry Wogan declared that the United Kingdom and the rest of Western Europe needs to ''seriously think about'' taking part in Eurovision in future years. After a night where the voting became farcicle, and it was easy to predict most of the top points, Wogan- who's be guiding the British public through the contest for over 15 years said ''We seriously have to think if we want to still be in this contest, because the voting has become a joke''. One only need look at the results of the semifinals to see what happens when you split up the block voting. Sadly, unless the EBU actually do something radical, the United Kingdom might not be the only country to consider its participation for next year. Also read [Update] Breakingnews.ie cover the story

156 Greece 139 Armenia 135 Russia 106 Norway 104 Israel 096 Azerbaijan 094 Romania 079 Finland 072 Bosnia & Herzegovina 042 Poland 036 Slovenia 036 Moldova 027 The Netherlands 023 Montenegro 022 Andorra 022 Ireland 016 Belgium 008 Estonia 005 San Marino

52 Ukraine 120 Portugal 112 Denmark 112 Croatia 107 Georgia 086 Latvia 085 Turkey 068 Iceland 067 Albania 064 FYR Macedonia 056 Bulgaria 054 Sweden* 047 Switzerland 038 Malta 036 Cyprus 030 Lithuania 027 Belarus 009 Czech Republic 006 Hungary *Indicated the jury's choice As you see Sweden was saved by the jury.

Dima Bilan won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest for Russia with his song Believe . He won ahead of the entries from Ukraine and Greece. Since taking part for the first time in Dublin in 1994, it is the first victory for the country. The complete results : Russia - 272 Ukraine - 230 Greece - 218 Armenia - 199 Norway - 182 Serbia - 160 Turkey - 138 Azerbaijan - 132 Israel - 124 Bosnia & Herzegovina - 110 Georgia - 83 Latvia - 83 Portugal - 69 Iceland - 64 Denmark - 60 Spain - 55 Albania - 55 Sweden - 47 France - 47 Romania - 45 Croatia - 44 Finland - 35 Germany - 14 Poland - 14 United Kingdom - 14

Eurovision Begins. Te duem sounds, Last years winners is on, singing last years winning song in a dance version. Hosts are on in grey colour outfits (kinda). Were off... ROMANIA: Nice opener to the contest. Really great on screen. Great reaction from the crowd. UNITED KINGDOM: Surprisingly good. If Elton John is looking for his jacket, he knows where it is. Very confident on stage. Don't know how it will do. Great reaction from the audience. ALBANIA: (Dustin came in live on RTE One (Ireland) talking to Marty Whelan, interrupted the start of the song). I can see why this qualified. She seems more confident than she was in the semi final. Audience like that. GERMANY: Oh dear, which one has the throat problem, all of them. Was not a strong performance in my opinion. I feel a bad result coming on. ARMENIA: Brilliant performance. Great reaction, has to be in the top 10. BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: So funny yet silly at the same time, I love this and the audience really love this one a...

In a few hours, the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest will begin and 25 countries will battle it out for the prize. Just looking at the All kinds of everything blog. Keith is saying that they are rumours going around that the FYR Macedonia was in the Top 10 in televotes but was squeezed out by Sweden from the jury. I would believe FYR Macedonia was pushed out of the top 10 by a jury vote but I doubt very much it was Sweden. Albania I think could have been the one but thats a big guess. We will know all the results after the show. So who is going to win, thats a tricky one. It is such a open contest this year. Quite a number of people are saying Ukraine but I don't know. Going by the trend, every country that has won from 2001, has been first time winners, so I am going to stick the head out and say Russia. I hope Portugal does well or even wins it! Enjoy the show. Country Song Title/Composer(s)/Lyricists(s) Performer(...

TOP producer Bill Hughes has stood by his decision to select Dustin the Turkey as one of our Eurosong finalists. The irreverent character received a roasting at the hands of Europe’s televoters this week after failing to make it through to the finals of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade. And Mr Hughes, who was chairman of the judging panel that put Dustin through as one of our six finalists with his ditty Irlande Douze Pointe, said he was “gutted” with the result. Read more from the Irish Independent...

Voting order for the Eurovision Song Contest tomorrow: 01. United Kingdom 02. FYR Macedonia 03. Ukraine 04. Germany 05. Estonia 06. Bosnia & Herzegovina 07. Albania 08. Belgium 09. San Marino 10. Latvia 11. Bulgaria 12. Serbia 13. Israel 14. Cyprus 15. Moldova 16. Iceland 17. France 18. Romania 19. Portugal 20. Norway 21. Hungary 22. Andorra 23. Poland 24. Slovenia 25. Armenia 26. Czech Republic 27. Spain 28. Netherlands 29. Turkey 30. Malta 31. Ireland 32. Switzerland 33. Azerbaijan 34. Greece 35. Finland 36. Croatia 37. Sweden 38. Belarus 39. Lithuania 40. Russia 41. Montenegro 42. Georgia 43. Denmark

At a press conference yesterday in Belgrade, Bjorn Ericsson of the EBU, said that the position of the "Big 4" in under review. The reference group are considering the option of only have the host country as an automatic finalist. [ Source ]

One day after the second Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest and just one day before the Grand Final, the EBU reveals that one of the ten contestants who qualified last night was selected thanks to the support of the back-up jury, and would not have made it to the Final under the old rules. A new rule, implemented before this year´s Eurovision Song Contest, says that the top-9 contestants chosen by the televoters qualify for the Final. The highest ranked contestant from the back-up jury results who did not yet qualify through the televoting, also qualifies for the Final. After the first Semi-Final, it appeared that the televoters and the back-up juries selected the same 10 contestants to qualify for the Final. This was not the case after the second Semi-Final, as one of the 10 contestants who qualified was not in top-10 of the televoters. So, one of the qualified Semi-Finalists would not have made it to the Final without the support of the back-up jury! Source: eurovisi...

After 2 Semi Finals, we now know the countries that are taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday. After many years, I can finally say that it is going to be a decent SONG contest this year. Can't wait. It is interesting to note, that Sweden are placed 15th slot on Saturday, the same slot as in Jerusalem in 1999 in which Charlotte Perrelli won with "take me to your heaven". It is also interesting to note that for the first time since 2000, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Finland, are together for the first time in a Eurovision Song Contest Final. They were also together in 1999, when Sweden won. Running Order for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008: ROMANIA UNITED KINGDOM ALBANIA GERMANY ARMENIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA ISRAEL FINLAND CROATIA POLAND ICELAND TURKEY PORTUGAL LATVIA SWEDEN DENMARK GEORGIA UKRAINE FRANCE AZERBAIJAN GREECE SPAIN SERBIA RUSSIA NORWAY

Running order was decided at a press conference just now. UKRAINE placed in slot: 18 CROATIA placed in slot: 9 ALBANIA placed in slot: 3 ICELAND placed in slot: 11 GEORGIA placed in slot: 17 DENMARK placed in slot: 16 SWEDEN placed in slot: 15 LATVIA placed in slot: 14 TURKEY placed in slot: 12 PORTUGAL placed in slot: 13 Running Order for the Eurovision final: ROMANIA (Semi Final 1) UNITED KINGDOM ALBANIA (Semi Final 2) GERMANY ARMENIA (Semi Final 1) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA (Semi Final 1) ISRAEL (Semi Final 1) FINLAND (Semi Final 1) CROATIA (Semi Final 2) POLAND (Semi Final 1) ICELAND (Semi Final 2) TURKEY (Semi Final 2) PORTUGAL (Semi Final 2) LATVIA (Semi Final 2) SWEDEN (Semi Final 2) DENMARK (Semi Final 2) GEORGIA (Semi Final 2) UKRAINE (Semi Final 2) FRANCE AZERBAIJAN (Semi Final 1) GREECE (Semi Final 1) SPAIN SERBIA RUSSIA (Semi Final 1) NORWAY (Semi Final 1)

Countries through to the Eurovision final (in no particular order): UKRAINE CROATIA ALBANIA ICELAND GEORGIA DENMARK SWEDEN LATVIA TURKEY PORTUGAL Remember we don't know where these countries are placed in the final. I believe the running order will be done after the show.

ICELAND: What an opener. Great song and the crowd get into this one straight away, clapping along as soon as the music begins. Has to get through. SWEDEN: After a shaky start, she got into it, pulled off a great performance. One of the hot favorites and sure to get through. TURKEY: A professional, strong vocal performance . Crowd loved it. UKRAINE: Confident performance and a lot going on stage. A big finish and a big cheer from the crowd. LITHUANIA: I had technical difficulties here. Cant do the opinion later. ALBANIA: Not a strong performance, She seems nervous. But the crowd liked her. SWITZERLAND: I had technical difficulties here. Cant do the opinion later. CZECH REPUBLIC: His face full of emotion, he sings the slow intro wonderfully before the crowd cheer him into the uptempo bars. BELARUS: A solid, dependable performance; perhaps Ruslan is saving his very best for the final, should he get through! But the audience are behind him, and he gets a big hand. LATVIA: Didn't go...

Reaction to Ireland's Exit to the contest. Irish Independent BBC News

The EBU, the European Broadcasting Union who organise the Eurovision Song Contest, announced today at a press conference held in Belgrade, Serbia, provisional dates for next years Eurovision Song Contest in 2009. The 54th Eurovision Song Contest 2009 will take place on: Tuesday May 12th 2009 - Semi Final 1 Thursday May 14th 2009 - Semi Final 2 Saturday May 16th 2009 - Grand Prix Final These dates are provisional and may be subject to change. [ Source: ESC Today ]

ESC Today reports The traditional EBU Press Conference took place today at the Press Center in the Sava Center. Svante Stockselius and Sandra Susa spoke about the organisations in 2007 and 2008, gave the provisional dates for 2009 and presented the brand new, permanent Eurovision Song Contest winner's trophy. Svante Stockselius referred to last year's contest and the complaints about East and West divide. He said that he does not really believe such a thing exists as if eastern countries were taken out of last years results, the following results would have been: 1.Serbia 2.Ukraine 3.Turkey 4.Russia 5.Bulgaria 6. Hungary 7. Armenia 8.Greece 9.Romania The back up jury results were also looked at. The only mayor difference to the result would have been a top 10 finish for Germany should the juries be the ones to decide last year. This year the EBU experiment with a back up jury to decide the 10th qualifier and they believe that the two semi finals will produce a fairer result as...

Running order was decided at a press conference just now. Running Order for the Eurovision final: ROMANIA (Semi Final 1) UNITED KINGDOM From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) GERMANY ARMENIA (Semi Final 1) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA (Semi Final 1) ISRAEL (Semi Final 1) FINLAND (Semi Final 1) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) POLAND (Semi Final 1) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) From Semi Final 2 (To be decided on Thursday) FRANCE AZERBAIJAN (Semi Final 1) GREECE (Semi Final 1) SPAIN SERBIA RUSSIA (Semi Final 1) NORWAY (Semi Final 1)

Countries through to the Eurovision final (in no particular order): GREECE ROMANIA BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA FINLAND RUSSIA ISRAEL AZERBAIJAN ARMENIA POLAND NORWAY Remember we don't know where these countries are placed in the final. I believe the running order will be done soon.

Watch the show live here . Just looking around in the Arena before the show starts, it seems only half full. Show starts, two girls singing the Te Deum song, then a choir sing and a band is playing jazz music, "Congratulations" and "Waterloo" and "Volare". Couples painted in blue and red are dancing. Presenters appear. there is a very small audience. there are showing the countries that are singing tonight. MONTENEGRO: Great Presentation. Looks very confident on stage. Everything went smoothly, just missed a few camera shots, but a great start. Great reaction from the audience. ISRAEL: Big reaction when he starts. Crowd really love this. He starts in Hebrew and then in English. Another great reaction from the audience. ESTONIA: Muted response and a bit of booing for Estonia before they start. This better not go through. More booing at the end. MOLDOVA: Nice response from the crowd, but this is a no from me. SAN MARINO: This country makes their debut. Ni...

Don't get excited just yet before reading below because they did make a huge mistake of predicting Germany to win last year . But this year, The BBC News website predicts Sweden to win the contest and for Charlotte, who won the contest in Jerusalem in 1999, to create song contest history to become the second singer after Johnny Logan and the first female singer to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice. One Eurovision fan from each country chose their Top 10 songs ahead of tonight's first semi-final in Belgrade. Their choices were awarded Eurovision-style points, with one point for 10th place, up to a maximum of 12 points for their favourite songs. The points were combined to create the final standings, from 1st to 43rd place. Montenegro came last with just two points. The Swedish star finished 62 points clear of Ukraine's Ani Lorak, and was awarded maximum points by several fans from all parts of Europe. Read the report in view

This is a huge worry. Oikotimes reports that after three dress rehearsals, they have noticed that the EBU and RTS begin their transmission only with a very quick almost soundless version of the logo of Eurovison without the Te Deum aired. Now come on, after 52 years, are they going to that? The website reporter continued by saying "It already made us feel weird but we are not sure that the media and especially the fans really understood what happened. Maybe this is happening because the semifinal intro includes a retro performance of Te Deum." Anyway lets enjoy what we have left of it.

Dutch broadcaster NOS confirmed that The Netherlands will be participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. NOS director Gerard Dielessen confirmed it to Dutch press this morning in Belgrade. [ Source ]

As the first semi final of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest starts tomorrow, The BBC News website reports that A Eurovision-style song contest could be held in North Africa and the Middle East. Eurovision Song Contest organisers said a TV company had bought the licence to use the format in the region. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said it was also hopeful of a contest for north and south America, as well as one for Asia and China. Announcing the North Africa and Middle East licence at a Belgrade media briefing, the EBU's Svante Stockselius said it was in talks for licensing around the world. [ Picture Source ]