TVP has officially published their broadcasting plan for the year 2015 and it’s good news for Eurovision fans on a bittersweet day. While Ukraine announce their withdrawal, it seems that their Euro-hosting companions over in Poland will indeed be taking part in the contest next May! The schedule released by TVP shows a listing for “Konkurs Piosenki Eurowizji” which is …
Ukraine withdraws from Eurovision 2015
Ukraine is withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 to be held in Vienna, Austria. The announcement was made on NTU’s website and is sending shock waves across the Eurovision community. The reason for withdrawal is financial and political instability. military aggression from the East as well as the annexation of Crimea by Russia earlier which took place a few …
Melodifestivalen 2015: Low number of submissions for Sweden
The deadline of sending in Melodifestivalen songs have passed. This year 2177 songs (444 to the publics competition) were sent in, a number which is quite low for Sweden. Most songs were sent in 2011 with 3 832 songs (including 424 webbjokers). Christer Björkman says that the number of submissions this year is lower than before but they are pleased that the songwriters …
Big names for Israel in 2015?
Despite the relaunch of the IBA in the upcoming year, Israel is willing to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. However, financial problems might still be an obstacle to entering the competition in May. Yona Wiesenthal, the Director General of the IBA, pointed out that negotiations with the EBU regarding the reduction of the participation fee are still ongoing. Even …
Estonia: Eesti Laul details revealed
Today, the details of the upcoming Estonian preselection for Eurovision 2015 have been revealed. The Baltic country will once again stick to Eesti Laul as their national final format. The deadline for submitting songs to the competition is December 1st. Afterwards, the jury has time to pick a total of 20 songs for the Eesti Laul shows until December 5th. …
Slovenia join 2015
Slovenia’s national broadcaster has confirmed it has signed preliminary papers for the EBU to continue Slovenia’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, suggesting that it is highly likely the nation will join a much more bolstered Balkan showing next year. Slovenia joins 35 other countries expected to take part in the contest next year, despite continued worries that the Central …
San Marino: SMRTV to decide on participation in October
Today it has been announced in an official press release that the Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV will make a decision regarding their participation in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest on 11 October. That means it is still uncertain whether the microstate will be present in Vienna in May. The decision will be made within the scope of the convention that will …
Spain confirms participation!
Get ready to celebrate as España will be present in Vienna for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Yet another Big 5 country has confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2015: Spain. No decision has been made on the selection format. However, rumour has it that the Spanish public broadcaster TVE will launch a brand new program called “The Hit”. This formula …
Serbia and Bulgaria set to return in 2015!
On one of the last days that broadcasters could register interest in joining Eurovision 2015 we have had some fantastic news, as both Serbia and Bulgaria look set to return to the contest after taking a break in 2014, making it highly plausible the number of participants next year will exceed 40 for the first time since 2012. Serbia’s …
Eurovision 2015 Slogan: Building Bridges
The Eurovision host broadcaster, ORF, released the official 2015 slogan: Building Bridges! “Building Bridges” was selected from hundreds of possible slogans, with the creative agency, PKP BBDO, behind the idea. Over the next few weeks they will come up with the logo and graphics for the slogan. The Director General of ORF, Dr. Alexander Wrabetz, said of the choice, “With …