Eurovision 2007 - Helsinki

Yep - they had to request permission to submit a late entry. It isn't unheard of though - other countries have been late selecting in the past.

(They like to get the preview videos round to all broadcasters relatively early)

Absolutely agree with you on this. The camp image is totally ruining Eurovsion in this country, it has nothing to do with the Eastern European countries voting for each other!! No doubt the crowd at G-A-Y will be ectastic with the result!!

Hardly suprising that shi.. sorry scootch won considering the fact mainly morons vote in these shows.

Just shows what a complete farce & waste of time the Eurovision Song Contest is. We should be eliminated if we fall in the "relegation zone" like most over countries do.

Unfortunately the BBC throw cash at it (the only programme I'll criticise them about spending money on) so we're doomed to it every year

...and relax

Hmm - what makes you think they'd have had more rehearsal at TVC than they had at Maidstone Studios? If anything I'd have expected Maidstone to be cheaper than TC1 (further out, more basic facilities etc.) so more rehearsal could have been budgeted in.

These days BBC shows come from other studios routinely - both Fountain at Wembley and Studio 1 at LWT/London Studios are used by BBC shows.

Maidstone's new large studio (or the staffing/infrastructure) didn't cover itself in glory I don't think though...

Haven't Maidstone recently built a barn/warehouse type building at the back of the studios to house a new large studio? There's something that kinda shape on the aerial photo on their site

It's not to do with the amount of money the BBC spend on the contest, it's because of the contribution to Eurovision and the EBU as a whole.

Remember Eurovision is not just about the Song Contest!

I should remember to never believe anything written in the Daily Mirror

Think "throwing cash" is a bit strong. The BBC, as one of the largest and important, broadcasters in the EBU plays a strong role in the organisation - which benefits Europe and smaller broadcasters (particularly when it comes to the other EBU activities, like infrastructure, news exchanges etc.) If anything, our guaranteed place (along with the other large broadcasters in Spain, France, Germany - and Italy, who would also be guaranteed a final place if they still took part I believe) in the final is more a payback for us keeping the EBU running properly than anything else... It isn't that we bankroll the contest per se - it is that we bankroll the overall organisation - which has a very important role to play in Europe.

(The EBU - as an organisation - organises the EVN Eurovision News service, which allows European broadcasters to share news footage daily - and the BBC make good use of this, as well as supporting it. Also the EBU are key players in defining new broadcasting standards - and their organisational role has been key in the development of standards like DVB - which gave us Freeview and Sky Digital, and the co-operation involved also rubs off in other areas, giving us stuff like GSM... Europe is actually quite good at this - and the EBU is pretty important in keeping broadcasters and broadcast industries working together. End of sermon)

And yes - I do know we pay more than some other broadcasters to show the contest - but that is because we have a larger population, and a richer BBC. And it gets pretty good ratings still. (After all the contest itself is still a pretty spectacular show - of a quality that no domestic broadcaster in the UK mounts routinely. Though Melodifestivalen in Sweden is almost as good...)

Now I did not know that it funded that, I'll walk away with my head held in shame

I still think the Eurovision Contest is a farce though, I don't think it matters how sh*te or great our entry is hardly anyone votes for us for 2 reasons 1) Iraq war & 2) we have no real neighbour that would vote for us like other parts of Europe (Scandanavia, Balklands, etc.)

Looked like a barn on-screen - and the lack of any decent lighting grid and pantos was pretty obvious. Just some trilight-type trussing. Wonder how well acoustically treated it is... The balance between audience, PA and vocals (were Lordi miming - who can tell through their masks?!) was pretty suspect - and not pleasant.

(Wonder if there were other problems - as the opening of the show suffered terrible picture break up on both Freeview and DSat)

http://www.maidstonestudios.com

The studio used tonight may have been the same one that has been home to Supermarket Sweep recently

If you actually analyse the voting in Eurovision - and academics have done PhDs on this - the situation is far more complicated.

Yes - Balkan countries often vote for each other. Yes - Scandinavian (and to a degree their Baltic neighbours) often vote for each other. Former Soviet Union countries often vote for each other. There is a mediterranean axis who vote more highly for each other. There is the Greece / Cyprus farce. There is the Germany / Turkey relationship (there are loads of Turkish people who work in Germany)

HOWEVER - none of these will win you the contest. Sure, not being a member of any of these blocs may mean you don't win - but being a member of one of them won't win it for you either.

The songs that have won in recent years have won because almost the whole of Europe voted strongly for them. Songs that have come high in the top ten (Carola for Sweden last year is a good example) have appealed to the middle ground of the whole of Europe (picking up a lot of middle marks, rather than a few high marks)

However 2005 was sobering. The big four were the bottom four - as old Western Europe (France, Germany, UK, Spain) was not voted for in any great number - and Sweden (another long-standing Eurovision member) came 5th from bottom (ISTR - may be wrong on this)

Interesting that there are plans next year for THREE contests, not two.

There are suggestions that there will be TWO semi-finals - either split randomly or by time-zone, open to all EBU members who want to compete, and will meet the entry criteria, with 10 songs from each semi joining the "big four" and last year's winner in a final of 25 songs. This means that apart from the winner and the "big four" - all other entries have to compete in the semi. (Only countries competing in the semi can vote in that semi - and countries not competing in them will not be obliged to show them. This means the winner, and the big four, won't have to show the semis...) Be interesting to see if this happens. If it happens, and timezones are used, the Balkans are split in two, and Finland leaves the rest of Scandinavia potentially.