Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Ins and outs in 2008





The other day it was confirmed that AZTV (or Azerbaijani telly) won't be able to enter the 2008 Eurovision as they are too close to the Azerbaijan government. Thank fuck is all I can say to that. I mean their votes would be so predictable I can already give their top 5 without hearing any songs for 2008. Turkey (cultural), Georgia (neighbours), Armenia (Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian diaspora), Russia (history), Ukraine (history)!!!!!




So far the only other country that looks seriously likely to not take part in 2008 is Israel. The head dude of Israeli telly says that the Contest doesn't fit in with what he sees as his channel. It pretty much looks like he's gonna get his way and that Israel's about to do an 'Italy' or a 'Luxembourg'. Maybe one of the other Israeli TV channels will step into the void, but first they'd have to join the EBU so 2007 could see Israel's last participation for quite some time.




Other countries have said they're thinking of pulling out due to bloc voting:- Andorra, Denmark, Ireland, Malta. Of these Malta has now confirmed they'll definitely be in Belgrade.




I think Ireland will now look on balance and say ok we got top ten in 2006 so it's not impossible to do well... if Malta's taking part then so will we.




If Danish TV can get around their money issues then I don't really think they'll be wanting to spoil the party and will take part as well.




That leaves Andorra and I think if Monaco decide to come back in 2008 (which is pretty possible), then Andorra will enter again.



About Monaco, well they had a bit of a hissy fit last year and withdrew, but they screened the final live in 2007, which is the prerequisite to competing the next year so it seems they're keeping their options open. I really hope Monaco do come back as they've got such a great history in this contest.




It also seems that Slovakia might make a return in 2008 under pressure from Czech TV to rejoin. Slovakia last took part in 1998 and I guess the Czechs want them to rejoin the madness and swap 12 points!!
Countries that have confirmed they'll definitely be in Belgrade are:-
Serbia (obviously)
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
Greece
Armenia
Hungary
Latvia
Sweden
Lithuania
Poland
Cyprus
Netherlands
Estonia
Montenegro
Malta
Belgium
Austria
Czech Republic

No comments: