Dr. Jürgen Meier-Beer, member of the European Broadcasting Union refrence group for the Eurovision Song Contest, said that there will be a special edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, when the 50th anniversary of the contest will be celebrated.
Meier-Beer told that during the annual meeting of ECGermany in Frechen. Although it seems logical that this special edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Switzerland, the home country of the contest, it's a public secret that the German broadcaster NDR and the Dutch broadcaster NOS are looking forward to do the job.
The fact that these plans are made public so early means that the EBU wants to make a memorable 50th Eurovision Song Contest.
At the fanclub-meeting, Meier-Beer also confirmed that in 2004 there will be substantial changes in the way the Eurovision Song Contest is organized, because the actual system of relegation “is not working.”. Still, at the moment it is unknown how the Contest will be organized in the future. He also confirmed that Renars Kaupers and Marija Naumova will host the event in Riga next year. Both will be guests at the German final Countdown Grand Prix 2003 in Kiel, which will probably be broadcasted in Latvia too.
Meier-Beer also said that songs for the German final Countdown Grand Prix 2003 must be submitted by record companies before January 7. The selected songs will be announced in a press conference on January 13. The videoclips of the participating songs will also be broadcasted, which might be on N3 or ARD in the third week of May.
