First ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU)announce that the Eurovision Song Contest format was purchased by Asiavision Pte. Ltd., to hold the first ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009!

The plan is to organize the first ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009, with 15 represented countries, including China and India. It will be based on the highly popular Eurovision Song Contest, which is an annual competition for active Members of the EBU, represented by the public broadcasters in their respective countries.

The annual song contest is planned to be a six-month regional and national tournament culminating in the Grand Final. The song contest will be distributed in the following countries: China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Targeting the most populous region in the world with more than three billion people the show has a potential audience of over 500 million viewers. A number of broadcasters have indicated their desire to be the Host Broadcaster for the first ever Asiavision Song Contest.

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The jury is back for ESC 2009 Final

eurovision.tv reports:

During a meeting in Moscow, the EBU Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest decided to introduce a voting model of a mix between televoting and jury votes in the 2009 Final.

No change will be made in the voting during the Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Details on the balance between jury and televoting outcome are still to be determined in the months to come.

A survey amongst delegation heads from represented countries revealed that a majority is in favor of such mixed model.
A mixed voting system also has great support amongst the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said:

"Nothing is more democratic than the vote of the public. But a jury takes the opportunity to listen to the songs several times, before they make up their minds. In Belgrade, we saw a difference in judgment of the public and the back-up juries, and we believe a combination will make the show more interesting."

In its next meeting, later this year, the Reference Group will decide upon the exact way the jury has to be composed, and to discuss rules to assure a fair jury vote.

The Semi-Finals will not see any changes in the voting procedure. As at the 2008 contest, televoters will again decide upon the nine songs that qualify in each of the two Semi-Finals, while the highest ranked entry of the back-up juries that didn't qualify yet through televoting will also qualify.


read also: Eurovision 'Big Four' final spots confirmed

Eurovision 2009 under threat after Russian invasion of Georgia

Next year's Eurovision Song Contest is under threat after ex-Soviet states called for a boycott after Russia invaded Georgia.

Russia's Dima Bilan won the 2008 contest thanks to ex-pats in former Soviet-bloc states banding together to vote for him.

As a result, the 2009 contest will take place in Moscow.

But Baltic nations Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia may pull out of the annual TV show.

A poll in Estonia has already backed the boycott, while pressure is also rising for a Polish withdrawal.

Estonia's culture minister Laine Janes, said: "Solidarity must exist with Lithuania and Latvia to show consolidated support for Georgia."

The European Broadcasting Union, who run Eurovision, have said the Georgian conflict cannot be allowed to wreck the contest.

Spokesman Svante Stockselius said: "These issues should not be linked. We are organising a non-political event and if the hosting country is able to ensure the safety of participants there is no reason why it should not be allowed to host the finals."

The potential eastern boycott is another problem for Eurovision, who are already struggling to allay the fears of the western countries that they now no longer have a chance in the contest.

Sir Terry Wogan confirmed last month he would be stepping down as the BBC's Eurovision host after 37 years. The 70-year-old presenter has tired of the "political voting" that determined the outcome.

source

Don’t boycott Moscow’s Eurovision song contest said EBU to Estonia

European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is not amused over calls of prominent Estonian politicians to boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest hosted by Russia for Georgian conflict.

Svante Stockselius, executive of EBU that is organising the annual Eurovision Song Contest, told Postimees that Eurovision was an non-political event and that politicians have no right to decide whether to boycott it or not.

Stockselius said that he could not understand the proposal made by the Estonian Minister of Culture Laine Jänes and by chairman of the National Broadcasting Association Margus Allikmaa that Estonia could boycott next year’s Eurovision finals in Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

"These issues should not be linked. We are organizing a non-political event and if the hosting country is able to ensure the safety of participants, there is no reason why it should not be allowed to host the finals," said Stockselius.

The EBU official added that if Estonia wishes to stay away from the Eurovision song festival in 2009, it is up to the country. "We have many members who don’t participate every year and who return later," added Stockselius. -source-

Estonia itself hosted the Eurovision contest in 2002 after winning the 2001 edition.

Culture Minister of Lithuania, Jonas Jucas says that it is too early to speak about the opportunity to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow with intention to express the protest over the Russian aggression against Georgia.

According to Jucas- "Spontaneous decisions might aggravate the efforts of diplomats to harmonize the conflict. It is not right time to speak about that," the culture minister noted. -source-


credit photo

Ukraine to host 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Ukrainian broadcaster NTU has won the bid to host the 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The seventh running of the competition, which was introduced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 2003, will take place in Kyiv. The election took place in Lemesos, Cyprus, where the 2008 running will take place.[..]

In 2005, NTU successfully hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv.

"We are very proud and honoured to welcome children from all over Europe to Ukraine next year, and we are looking forward to host a great show," said Viktoria Romanova, Head of Delegation on behalf of NTU.

More informations here

source: eurovision.tv

EBU responds to allegations on voting

eurovision.tv reports:

On behalf of the EBU, Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision TV, responded to allegations questioning the legitimacy of the voting of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The voting procedure of the contest has been criticised for neighbour voting and the diasporas voting.


The rules of the Eurovision Song Contest state that all viewers in the 43 participating countries can vote.

Erichsen: "If a viewer likes the song from a neighbouring country, they can vote for it, and if a Polish girl lives in Ireland she can vote for Poland. You cannot vote for your own country, from your own country. But the EBU and its partners do not - and should not have - any possibility of controlling the nationality, identity or preferences of the individual voter. If somebody were to seek to influence the voters to vote for a specific song, they would have to approach the 105 million audience to convince them. Ultimately, they would have to influence the entire potential 640 million audience in the EBU countries, as nobody knows who will switch on their TV that evening."

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Heads of delegation meeting in Belgrade

The Heads of the Delegations of 43 countries participating in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest will meet in Belgrade, on 17-18 March.



During the meeting, the Host Broadcaster will present its plans and prepare the heads of delegations for the upcoming contest. The draw for the starting order of the participants willl take place at the Sava Centre on Monday, 17 March. At the end of January, it was decided by a draw which countries will compete in Semifinal 1 and Semifinal 2.

FIRST SEMIFINAL:
Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino and Slovenia. Ten countries will qualify for the Final.

SECOND SEMIFINAL:
Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. Ten countries will qualify for the Final

FINAL:France, Germany, Serbia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The draw for the starting order will be broadcast live on RTS and through the official 2008 Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv

source:RTS

later edit: The Cypriot Broadcasting Corporation will broadcast live the draw from Sava Center in Belgrade.

source:esctime.com

43 countries to be represented in Belgrade

A record number of 43 countries will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, the EBU confirmed today.

Two semifinals will take place.

In each semifinal, ten participants qualify for the final: nine of them through televoting, the tenth entry is the highest ranked non-qualified entry of the back-up juries.

The following 38 countries will be represented in the two semifinals of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest:

Albania (RTVSH),

Andorra (RTVA),

Armenia (PTV),

Azerbaijan (iTV),

Belarus (BTRC),

Belgium (VRT),

Bosnia & Herzegovina

(PBSBIH),

Bulgaria (BNT),

Croatia (HRT),

Cyprus (CBC),

Czech Republic (CT),

Denmark (DR),

Estonia (ETV),

Finland (YLE),

FYR Macedonia (MKRTV),

Georgia (GEGT),

Greece (ERT),

Hungary (MTV),

Iceland (RUV),

Ireland (RTE),

Israel (IBA),

Latvia (LT),

Lithuania (LRT),

Malta (PBS),

Moldova (TRM),

Montenegro (RTCG),

The Netherlands (NPB),

Norway (NRK),

Poland (TVP),

Portugal (RTP),

Romania (TVR),

Russia (C1R),

San Marino (STV),

Slovenia (RTVSLO),

Sweden (SVT),

Switzerland (SRG SSR idée suisse),

Turkey (TRT)

Ukraine (NTU)

These 38 countries will be drawn into two semifinals, taking place on 20th and 22nd of May in Belgrade, Serbia.

The draw to determine on which night the 38 semifinalists will perform takes place on the 28th of January in Belgrade.

The official website of the Eurovision Song Contest will web-cast the event live.

The draws for the running order of the semifinals, the final and voting order takes place in mid-March. France, Germany, Serbia, Spain and the United Kingdom are automatically qualified for the final, scheduled for the 24th of May.

source:belgovision.com

EBU trying to save Junior Eurovision Song Contest

belgovision.com reports:

A little crisis surrounds the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, but the EBU doesn't let the head down. While trying to convince Spain to take part in the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest after all, the EBU is talking with countries such as Denmark, Israel, Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom with the future in mind.

At the beginning of August, Spanish broadcaster TVE announced the withdrawal of Spain from the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The contest lost the last of its four big financial contributors. "Of course we are not happy with that," says Sipke Jan Bousema, who will host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam on 8th December. "Spain is a big European country and it is very important that they take part," Bousema explains in the youth news broadcast of NOS. read more...

Eurovision not rigged, says broadcasting union

Following the widespread criticism and in a general climate of increasing mistrust of anything to do with television and voting, the organisers of the Eurovision song contest have held an inquiry into the allegations.

Members of the European Broadcasting Union discussed the allegations following this year’s contest but “found no evidence of irregularities”.

As a further check they engaged PriceWaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit of the voting system, which again turned up nothing untoward.

Worries about the possibility of vote rigging extend beyond the UK, where the matter was even discussed in an early day motion in the House of Commons.

Malta led calls for the voting system to be overhauled, along with the removal of phone votes in the former Soviet Bloc countries, and Ireland and Andorra also expressed concern over this year’s scoring.

But the head of the contest, Svante Stockselius, insisted block voting could not occur: “We have looked into it and we have had auditors look at it, but it is not possible to manipulate the voting,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t say 100 per cent because that would be impossible but there is no way you can manipulate the televoting.”It’s just that they have similar tastes in music (another explanation Mr Stockselius was keen to offer).

source: The Malta Independent Online

Two semifinals for Eurovision 2008?

esctoday.com reports:

The EBU has announced that during the Debriefing Meeting of the Reference Group earlier this summer it was proposed and discussed that the two semi final format could be introduced in 2008 and not in 2009 as originally discussed at the HoD meeting in Helsinki last March.

The proposal includes that all participating countries apart from the winner and the Big Four will have to go through the two semi finals starting from the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. This means that the result of the 2007 contest will not influence the 2008 contest.

The final decision though will be taken by the TV committee during its scheduled meeting in Verona, Italy on September 28. The Reference Group intends to propose this format after receiving feedback from the participating members.

Read also: More news about the 2008 format

source:esctoday.com

EBU says Palestine not yet ready for membership

from oikotimes.com

EBU would like to support Palestine Broadcasting Service, but they think, that Palestine is not ready for EBU membership and so they don't have chance to participate in upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, MTV 3 reported yesterday. EBU decided during their meeting in Istanbul, that union will support of building Palestine Broadcasting Service. But Palestinians dream to participate in Eurovision Song Contest 2008 won't come true.

Azerbaijan not joining after all

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, AzTV has in fact been denied active EBU membership at the EBU meeting on the 15th June 2007. This means that Azerbaijan cannot enter the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 to be held in Belgrade, Serbia.

The EBU decided that AzTV was not separate enough from the Azeri state, which is one of the requirements for active membership. However, Arzu Abdullayev of AzTV has confirmed that AzTV will apply again for active membership in January 2008, and if that application is successful, then Azerbaijan may debut as early as 2009.

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