Eurovision 2019

ITN aren't a member, but because of the membership of ITV and C4 they contribute to and use material from the Eurovision News Exchange

Yes, there was a clause which stated that they could only move it owing to "an event of national importance" or at FOM's discretion otherwise.

Key examples of that clause being enacted were the 2010 Malaysian GP, which fell on Easter Sunday. The Easter Sunday service was deemed an event of national importance, so the race was switched to BBC Two midway through. Later that year, the European GP clashed with England's World Cup match against Germany - again, an obvious example of an event of national importance.

There were also a couple of rain-delayed sessions/races which meant that the BBC got Bernie's permission to move the show across to BBC Two - Brazil 2009 Qualifying springs to mind immediately. (And did Canada 2011 move over, or did they keep that on BBC One?)

Canada 2011 was moved to BBC Two at 9pm if I recall correctly.

But both the Cup Final and Eurovision are clearly events of national importance, so still a tricky one.

It did - at 9pm, not that long after the race had restarted. There was a two part drama that was scheduled for Sunday and Monday night at 9pm so the Grand Prix moved. The HD coverage moved from BBC1 HD to BBC HD. The Beeb had to ask not only for permission to move the race to BBC 2 but also to cut away from the world feed during the extended rain delay so they could show interviews and Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard in vision.


I was watching it with friends on delay (skipping past the rain delay)- fortunately one of them got a text alerting them to the channel move so we could start that part recording, otherwise we'd have missed the end to that fantastic race!

I'd be surprised if the FA's overseas contracts don't allow some flexibility in the time the FA Cup Final can be played. Its likely there were overseas contracts that overlapped the move from a 3pm kick off to around 5pm. My suspicion is the BBC will explain the situation to the FA ask for a kick off somewhere between 3 and 4:45pm. 4:30pm or 4:45pm would allow a short news bulletin regardless of when the match finishes before some droppable filler ('Pointless Celebrities' etc) that can dissapear if it does go to extra time and penalties, allowing them to still hit Te Deum at 8pm.

4:30 would certainly allow some breathing space. Provided you can get to the news 7:40 latest and that then comfortably gets you to Eurovision.

I think next year is going to be a crucial year for the BBC through - if the UK have another 18-26th finishing position they I can see the pressure to sadly withdraw getting stronger and the BBC having to constantly explain how cheap they get 3 and half hours of primetime Saturday night TV.

Why? What’s so special about next year over the past 20? I’ve not heard anybody say we should withdraw.

If S4C submit an entry at some point, what would that mean for the UK entry?

You Gov tend to do annual polls each May which have the public backing withdrawal.

The UK will *not* withdraw - even if it's destined never to finish on the left-hand side of the scoreboard again.

And if it *did* withdraw, the Beeb would almost certainly lose a considerable amount of viewers.