:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

The 2010 Eurovision Song Contest already has a theme art and a slogan: Share the moment. The theme depicts a series of spheres representing people gathering together to enjoy a unique moment that is followed by more than 100 million viewers across the continent and beyond. The theme and slogan have been revealed today at a press conference held in Oslo, the host city for the next Eurovision Song Contest. EBU and host broadcaster NRK main officials were present to inform the press on the latest identity adopted by the Eurovision Song Contest. Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the contest on behalf of the EBU, praised NRK's capability to carry out the Eurovision preparations speedily and successfully: "I never saw a host broadcaster being this well prepared at this time of the year", Stockselius stated. "We want to share the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than just broadcast it", Hasse Lindmo, TV-producer of the contest for NRK explained. "One par...

The Norwegian broadcaster hosting the 2010 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest has adjusted their original estimate on how much the arrangement is going to cost. The revised sum is now estimated at 211 million Norwegian kroner (ca. €24 mill.), when the original sum quoted was closer to 150 million (€17 mill.) that NRK say it cost YLE to host the contest in Helsinki in Finland in 2007. Last year's contest in Moscow cost reportedly $40 mill. (ca €27 mill.) More from ESC Today -

Someone has these on Facebook, had to put them here. What an opening to opening to the Eurovision Song Contest of 1996 in Oslo, Norway on May 18th when Morten Harket performed his song "Heaven's Not For Saints". Also included is Eimear Quinn, winner Ireland 1996 singing "Norwegian Wood". -

A campaign to bring back a live orchestra to the Eurovision Song Contest has been launched through social media website, facebook. More than 3,750 people have already signed up in support of the move. The Eurovision Song Contest has not used an orchestra since the 1998 contest in the United Kingdom. It did use an orchestra for the 50th anniversary show in Denmark in October 2005. With the rapid development of music technology, producers, writers and production methods make backing tracks a better alternative. It also means more space for the stage and audience in the Eurovision Song Contest arena during the shows. With the rapid growth in the number of countries participating at the Eurovision Song Contest, orchestras would need to learn more than 40 songs, as opposed to around 20-25 the last time an orchestra was used at the competition. This makes a return to the use of an orchestra unlikely. Despite this, Jan Fredrik Heyerdahl of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK), said that they ...

As Norway look forward to hosting the next Eurovision Song Contest, oikotimes.com look back at the last time they hosted the contest. The year was 1996 and the location Oslo. It was the last time Ireland won the contest. Read more -

Oikotimes reports... The Norwegian broadcaster NRK who earned the right to host after a record breaking victory with Alexander Rybak's brilliant performance of his entry "Fairytale" has just revealed it's budget plans for next years' Eurovision Song Contest. The amount of 17 million euros which was speculated earlier on has now been confirmed by both the broadcaster and the Ministry for Culture. The budget itself is quite lower than the one used in Moscow which reached a maximum of 30 million euro. This means that the proposed budget for next years' Eurovision Song Contest is 13 million lower than than in 2009 yet it is an increase on the budget used in the Helsinki edition which reached a total of 9 million putting in a margin of 4 million in difference. NRK will be doing it's best to make a profit out of the sponsorship, ticket sales, advertising and televoting so that a loss will not be apparent. -

The 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will take place at the Telenor Arena, now known as Fornbu Arena in Oslo. NRK, the host broadcaster of the 55th Eurovision Song Contest, announced that the arena, located in the greater metropolitan of Oslo, will be used for the final on May 29th 2010 along with the semi finals on 25th and 27th May. The Arena is more commonly known as the Telenor Arena. The Fornebu Arena is located in Bærum which is placed in the south of Oslo. The two Semifinals and the Grand Final, along with all rehearsals and press conferences will take place exactly there. It was selected ahead of the Spektrum, home of the Melodi Grand Prix final and previous Eurovision Song Contest host arena in 1996. The Spektrum has a smaller capacity and lacks the size to cope with the media circus that accompanies the competition. The Telenor/Fornebu Arena is the largest indoor arena in northern Europe and opened in February 2009 and can host 15,000 spectators for football matches, and 23,000 f...

Last month, Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in which NRK has become the host broadcaster for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Key positions have been filled by the host broadcaster in the running of the event next year. Jon Ola Sand (48), has been recently appointed as NRK's Executive Producer for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Hasse Lindmo (36) will be the Television Producer, while Stian Malme (39) the current NRK Head of Delgation for the Eurovision Song Contest is to become the Venue Manager. Evy Hauffen (56) was appointed Line Producer, she was involved in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo as Production Manager. On Wednesday and Thursday last, the newly appointed production team met with organisers of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to be briefed about the task that's ahead. Discussions on various topics such as the technical aspects of the contest, the content of the three live shows, infrastructure, marketing, branding, new media, press facil...

No surprises about the Host city but the dates announced are a shocker! The host city as well as the dates for the 55th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest have now been confirmed by the EBU and NRK although the exact venue remains still to be decided. As announced today by the EBU and host broadcaster NRK, the final dates for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will be Tuesday 25 May and Thursday 27 May for the semi finals, the Grand Final will take place on Saturday 29 May, 2010 in Oslo. The date for the final was earlier set to the 22nd May but this clashed on the same day with the Champions League Final which is being held on a Saturday for the first time next year. Greece (ERT) and Spain (TVE) were two broadcasters who officially complained about the date. The last time the contest was held on the 29th May was when Israel (IBA Television) held the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest on that date. The Venue for 2010 is still to be decided. According to NRK two options are being considered...

The results of the jury vote from all the 42 countries taking part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are known. These are the results from the 210 European music professionals: 1. Norway (312 points) 2. Iceland (260 points) 3. United Kingdom (223 points) 4. France (164 points) 5. Estonia (124 points) 6. Denmark (120 points) 7. Turkey (114 points) 8. Azerbaijan (112 points) 9. Israel (107 points) 10. Greece (93 points) 11. Moldova (93 points) 12. Bosnia & Herzegovina (90 points) 13. Malta (87 points) 14. Germany (73 points) 15. Armenia (71 points) 16. Ukraine (68 points) 17. Russia (67 points) 18. Portugal (64 points) 19. Croatia (58 points) 20. Lithuania (31 points) 21. Romania (31 points) 22. Sweden (27 points) 23. Albania (26 points) 24. Finland (12 points) 25. Spain (9 points) Notice how Azerbaijan and Turkey are a bit down the order compared to their result of 3rd and 4th in the final results. If the results were base...

13 years ago, the Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Oslo Spektrum Arena, but it looks like now that the 2010 contest may be going to a different arena. It is expected that the 2010 edition will be held in the Telenor Arena in Oslo. The new arena in Oslo, Telenor is about to open this year, it costed 550 million Kronar and it can hold up 23,000 auditors. -

FINAL RESULT 1. Norway 387 2. Iceland 218 3. Azerbaijan 207 4. Turkey 177 5. UK 173 6. Estonia 129 7. Greece 120 8. France 107 9. Bosnia-Herzegovina 106 10. Armenia 92 11. Russia 91 12. Ukraine 76 13. Denmark 74 14. Moldova 69 15. Portugal 57 16. Israel 53 17. Albania 48 18. Croatia 45 19. Romania 40 20. Germany 35 21. Sweden 33 22. Malta 31 23. Lithuania 23 24. Spain 23 25. Finland 22 Semi Final 1 http://www.eurovision.tv/event/scoreboar d?event=1480 Semi Final 2 http://www.eurovision.tv/event/scoreboar d?event=1481 Final http://www.eurovision.tv/event/scoreboar d?event=1482

I am a little depressed today after my country, Ireland, failed to qualify for the final. I was confident they would as it was a pretty catchy song, but the voters didn't agree although of course, people are talking "Bloc voting" all the time now, but I feel the best 10 got through last night. Anyway I have to say the 2 semi finals this year were quite enjoyable. The presenters were however a complete joke. It was clear they were not picked for their brains or presenting abilities! Their french made no sense aswell. They are for sure the worst presenters in living memory. Thank god they are not there on Saturday for the final. Also I also want to say that camera views for the contest are quite messy. Why can't they just do the basic things!! I have to say I was quite happy with the 20 songs that got through to the Final. Notice that silly entries like Serbia and Czech Republic did not go through, makes a welcome change. Its great to see ballads winning the hearts of ...

On the 21st February, the Norwegian national final. The televoters decided to send Alexander Rybak to Moscow with the song Fairytale, written by himself. -

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

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...

The Melodi Grand Prix final was held on February 9th at the Spektrum Arena in Oslo, the same venue that hosted the contest in 1996. In the final, the song "Hold On, Be Strong" sung by Maria Haukaas Storeng won the ticket to Belgrade, over two rounds of public televoting.