Two of South-eastern Europe’s absentees from the previous contest are both showing encouraging signs that they will return in 2015, despite neither broadcaster officially confirming their participation. The Bulgarian broadcaster is no major surprise as the case was always participation in the event of a lenient budget, but BNT has recently begun updating it’s own Eurovision page, eurovision.bnt.bg, suggesting that …

Latvian broadcaster LTV has allegedly confirmed to esctoday.com that it is likely to be taking part next year in Vienna, in spite of the fact Latvia has not made an appearance in the Eurovision final since Pirates of the Sea in 2008. Of course, official confirmation from the broadcaster still awaits and it is not yet certain how a Latvian …

The Dutch rumour mill claims their 2015 entrant has already been chosen. According to several newspapers that refer to insider sources, the singer Alain Clark will represent the Netherlands in Vienna next year. Apparently the Dutch singer wants to focus on an international career (he just signed a contract with an American record label) which means entering Eurovision would be …

The Slovak public broadcaster has unsurprisingly confirmed to the country’s OGAE fan club today that Slovakia will not be present at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, despite the fact the Austrian capital will bring the contest merely 100km away. When prompted for a statement the RTVS’s management didn’t hold back; Our attitude towards Eurovision Song Contest remains unchanged. We …

It seems that the Irish broadcaster RTÉ has had enough of the Late Late Show’s Eurosong selection and has scrapped it altogether for 2015, according to Irish website Goss.ie (or perhaps it was Linda Martin’s 2014 tirade?) The site reports that former Westlife star Nicky Byrne is being lined up to host a newly returned version of popular show The …

You may remember back in May that rumours of Georgia being disqualified from the contest in 2015 were abundant. As a result of their dodgy jury votes in the final of the contest in which all five jurors had the same favourite acts, considered a statistical impossibility by the EBU, the country instead used 100% televoting in the final in …

The views expressed in this editorial are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board, its readers, or any other person, entity, or organization. The preparations for 2015 are in full swing and no broadcaster seems more prepared for the challenge of 2015 than ORF of Austria. Surprising? …

Austria will pick its next representative in a big national final next year! This was confirmed by ORF general director Alexander Wrabetz in an interview with the newspaper Der Standard. The exact format of the national final hasn’t yet been decided on. However, it’s already been mentioned that the selection period will take place between January and March. It is …

Earlier today, Vienna’s city councillor Christian Oxonitsch held a press conference about the Eurovision Song Contest in May. He presented the budget that Vienna will contribute to the contest and outlined plans regarding side events. Budget It was announced that the city of Vienna is planning to spend almost 12 million euros on the event. Here’s a detailed list of things they …

A few hours ago the Austrian broadcaster ORF announced that the 60th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna. Despite Innsbruck being more financially generous, the capital managed to score with a more convincing overall concept. Host duo already decided? Today (Thursday) at 11:00, ORF will hold an official press conference regarding further details and financial aspects of the …