Europe prepares for Belgrade

eurovision.tv reports:

With still more than five months on the count down counter towards the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Europe is looking ahead with the following question in mind: Who do we send to Belgrade?

In Iceland and Bulgaria, the respective national public broadcasters already kicked off with their national selections. After numerous semi-finals, national finals should then decide who will represent Iceland and Bulgaria in Belgrade.

More than 3,000 entries in Sweden

Several other countries already announced details about their selection methods for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

In Sweden, more than 3,000 songs were submitted to broadcaster SVT, out of which a selection committee hand-picked the 28 songs for Melodifestivalen 2008.

After four semi-finals, a second-chance heat and a grand final at Stockholm's Globen Arena, Europe will know Sweden's representative for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

For those who can't wait to find out, we have disappointing news; The Swedish final takes place on 15th March, which leaves plenty of time to speculate about the performers of the songs and the potential finalists.

On the 14th and 15th of December, the national semi-finals in Albania take place. On the 16th, we will know who will succeed Frederik NDOCI and his wife Aida. They represented Albania at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland.

Selections underway across Europe

Several other broadcasters announced how and when they will pick their country's representative for Belgrade. From Finland to Malta and from Estonia to Denmark, preparations for the national selections are underway. The Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, Flanders, is looking forward to the Eurosong 2008 semi-finals, while Dutch broadcaster NOS has announced that the artist representing the Netherlands will be picked internally.

What to expect

Eurovision.tv will keep you posted about the national selections on a regular basis.

In January, Eurovision.tv will unveil the website for Belgrade 2008. Between January and mid-March, we will extensively cover the national heats and the preparations in Belgrade. The second half of March and April are completely dedicated to the upcoming contest and the preparations of the participating singers.