The Ukrainian national broadcaster, despite recent rumours of debts, have confirmed that they are holding a national final for Eurovision 2019 in collaboration with commercial channel STB. The partnership, which is now in its fourth year, will see two semi-finals take place leading up to a national final on Saturday 23rd February.
The contract between the two broadcasters appears to have been extended through to 2021, with Ukraine’s broadcaster showing no signs of slowing down in the midst of this uncertainty! As in previous years, all of the expenses relating to the selection will be assumed by STB.
The head of STB, Vladimir Boridiansky, confirmed the news in a press release on UA:PBC’s website; “Three years ago, beginning with our cooperation with UA:PBC, the STB channel set itself the goal of creating a show in which every professional performer can promote themselves to Europe. And we succeeded, because in three years the stage of national selection has opened a lot of new names to the public, gave a successful start to many young artists, and the selection itself became the main musical event of the year and attracted the attention of successful producers and sponsors.”
“This is a very decent result we are proud of. Therefore, we want to continue our cooperation with UA:PBC and SKON focusing on production and creating what STB can do best – large-scale television events that are now national selection for Eurovision”
The press release also confirms that semi-finals will be held on the 9th and 16th February, however, no news about the submission process has been provided yet.
Are #YOU excited for the Ukrainian selection? Share your thoughts with us on our forum HERE or join the discussion below and on social media!
