:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

On the 10th March, RTBF held a press conference to present the song and release the video for the song that will represent Belgium in Eurovision this year. Elvis impersonator Patrick Ouchène will represent Belgium with the song ‘Copycat’. The press conference took place in Brussels. -

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Patrick Ouchène from the band Runnin' Wild has been selected by Belgian broadcaster RTBF to represent Belgium at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. 43 year old Ouchène will sing the song Copycat . Song will be presented at a press conference on 10th March. -

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...

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.

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...

Entertainment reporter for BBC News, Michael Osborn gives his lowdown on some of this years songs from Ireland, Latvia, Spain, Sweden, Estonia, Portugal, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium, Bosnia - Herzegovina, San Marino, Switzerland, Romania, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Finland, Turkey & Russia. Read More. Source: BBC News UK

For the second time in in five years the Belgian entry will be sung in an imaginary language with the group Ishtar performing "O Julisi Na Jalini".

Björn Verdoodt, press representative of Flemish broadcaster VRT, has reacted to the criticism and cynical reactions the broadcaster received after stating that Eurosong 2008 will be "a contest of state importance", just like in 2006. According to Verdoodt, Belgium most definitely means business, and the term "state importance" still applies. Since last week, Eén has been airing a trailer encouraging Flemish artists and songwriters to submit their songs for the Belgian selections for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. In the trailer, Eurosong host Bart Peeters used the term "a contest of state importance" to refer to the event. After the Kate Ryan disaster in 2006 when Je t'adore, a hot favourite, just failed to make the top ten of the semifinal, the statement raised the same cynicism that it did when it was used back then. "The term state importance still applies," explains Björn Verdoodt in the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. "No m...

Funny witty interviews with Eurovision commentators from Norway, Cyprus, Ireland, Germany, Slovenia and Belgium ahead of the contest tonight. Read the interviews>>>

As the media in western Europe still remain in shock, The 2007 Semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest has produced one major story. All ten qualifiers are from the East and Central Europe. Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia are all from ex-Yugoslavia. Moldova, Georgia, Belarus and Latvia are all former Soviet Union states. Turkey are the most South-Eastern outpost and Hungary and Bulgaria are to the East. Countries tipped to do well such as Switzerland, Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Denmark, Andorra and Netherlands along with Portugal, Iceland and Belgium once again miss out. Whether it is political voting taking a stronger hand than ever remains to be seen until the voting numbers are announced. The following is an extract from the doteurovision.com website and I think it tells a lot of what everyone else is thinking: What transpired last night was the end of the Eurovision as we know it. Never one to jump readily onto the death of the Contest bandwagon, in the past I have always thought it ...