San Marino broadcaster interested in Eurovision

from esctoday.com

The microstate of San Marino is one of the last European countries never to have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest.

However, it seems that this could change in the next few years - Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they are watching the Eurovision project with a possible participation in mind.

SMRTV considered joining in 2007, but its stockholders, many of whom are related to Italian broadcaster RAI, decided not to support the idea. Whether they will have changed their minds in a year seems unlikely, but SMRTV is aiming to participate at some point over the next few years, according to a spokesperson for the broadcaster.

San Marino is a tiny country surrounded entirely by Italy, and is often reported as being the world's oldest republic. Success for microstates has happened in the past - Monaco won in 1971, for example, and Malta has had 4 top 3 placings to date, the most recent coming in 2005 when Chiara placed 2nd.

As Italy is not participating in the contest, and seems unlikely to return in the near future, San Marino could act as a representative for the Italian language and music tradition in the contest in their absence. As a debuting country, San Marino would have to start in the semi final, should they enter.