Eurovision 2013 - 14/16/18 May 2013

I once bought a Bonnie Tyler satnav. It was rubbish! Kept telling me to turn around, and every now and then it fell apart. etc

Where did you get it? What's the returns policy?

I really think you should seek a refund.

Comet.

Except the BBC have no reason to let ITV do Eurovision. They get great ratings for the Saturday Final, and it costs them less than home-grown equivalent output. What makes you think it's not currently viable for the BBC? It's VERY viable for them.

It's very difficult to equate Melodifestivalen with the UK TV and Music scene. Melodifestivalen is NOT a talent show - like X Factor - it's a competition between acts, many of whom are already well known, and most of whom are recording and releasing singles and/or albums. Acts in Sweden are forced to do MF to get an album release - and MF singles almost always chart.

It's just not the same in the UK, where Eurovision is a joke. We have a strong international and domestic music market that doesn't need Eurovision success to generate sales, and record labels have usually steered their MF-equivalent artists away from Eurovision - as it's more a curse than a success. Why send a successful act to a contest that they are quite possibly going to lose, and which is unlikely to do much to further their career or sales?

The point about MF is that it is the Swedish equivalent, in TV popularity terms, of X Factor. But we already have X Factor... It's also 50+ years old...

That might be a problem.

LOL that isn't the point. Eurovision to Sweden is drastically different to what Eurovision means to the UK.

Singing in Eurovision is a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it. Will she be holding out for a zero? Will it be a total eclipse from the start? Good job it's Sweden, otherwise she'd be lost in France.

[Leaves, faster than the speed of night]

That's just a heartache

Eurovision expert Christopher Rowe is the only person whose opinion I need.

So the BBC have chosen another ageing artist to compete in Malmo at the ESC. Disrespectful to SVT and the contest. Annoyed.

— Christopher Rowe (@KernowChris) March 7, 2013

@bbc5live @richardpbacon Not a hope. BBC Lost the plot big time. Song is a dirge too.

— Christopher Rowe (@KernowChris) March 7, 2013

Don't agree with Chris Kernow - think he's gone a bit OTT.

More considered thoughts here : http://www.dreurovision.blogspot.com

As ever in all things European, we are out of sync. As a nation, the perceived view of Eurovision is that it is a camp-fest for tragic pop songs. Sometimes it has been, but increasingly it isn't. However that doesn't change what Brits think of the contest. Arguably, if it did, the BBC would have much more of a problem, as I suspect if it was taken more seriously, the ratings would drop.

We are in a near-unique position because our music industry (along with the American one) dominates Europe already. Whilst Eurovision is often the only route to break out of your own country in other areas in Europe, it isn't needed, or wanted, as a route for British acts. In other countries it has significance in real-world business terms to the domestic music industry. In the UK it is an irrelevance to the UK music industry. People always seem to forget or ignore this and suggest we send Take That or similar...

Historically we have had success, but much of this has been down to being able to sing in English (when only a couple of other countries were allowed to), and the smaller-scale, more Western European, nature of the contest.

The other thing to remember, when comparing the UK with Sweden (which many do - because MF is such a great TV show) is that Melodifestivalen is NOT primarily there to select Sweden's Eurovision entry. It's there to be a ratings juggernaut for SVT. The goal of winning Eurovision is not the aim of MF, the goal of MF is to be, as usual (Royal Weddings ignored), the most watched show in Sweden of the year. That's why it has an insane budget, ratings through the roof, and such amazing production values. It really is, in audience terms, the Swedish X Factor.

.... to avoid any possible misunderstanding, the Twitter account as quoted is mine. I continue to stand by my comments.

I completely agree with you. I think the view that Brits treat is as a joke and a camp fest is a very outdated disrespectful one - and even if they do it's not the way the BBC should be treating it. Nobody is saying they should be taking it super seriously and playing to win, but they should show it - and more importantly it's viewers - some respect and not be wheeling out these hasbeens every year, and then whinging when they come last. Pre-selection wouldn't be so bad if they were using it to give unknowns a platform rather than ancient relics of the 60s/70s/80s, and they don't have to go all Melodifestivalen to do a selection show - it can be kept low key and remain studio based and still do the job, especially if they focus on the task in hand rather than go for the stunt selection it became in the later years.