After a long national preselection last year with an endless series of semi finals, LRT , the Lithuanian broadcaster have decided to hold three semi finals that will take place on the three Saturday nights before the final on 2 February. Thirty four songs will compete in the three heats plus for the first time there will be two wildcards competing directly in the final.
Last December LRT received more than 70 songs from local and foreign song writers. According to Jonas Vilimas, Lithuanian Head of Delegation,today there are 35 songs ready to fight for the ticket to Belgrade. The 35 songs will be split in the three semi finals. 11 or 12 songs will compete in each, on 12, 19 and 26 January. The singers will be divided for the semi finals in a random way. Four songs from each heat will qualify for the final. The semi final participants will be announced in a few days by LRT.
For the first time there will also be two wildcards in the country's preselection. Lithuanian Eurovision national final veteran Aistė Pilvelytė (1999, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) and last year's Lithuanian representative 4Fun's lead singer Julija Ritčik are already in the final as wildcards. Aistė will sing a song written by a foreign author but she hasn't yet made up her mind which song she will sing.
LRTwill alsogive a second chance to one of the artists who will not qualify from the semi finals – a special panel will decide on this.
The semi finals and the big final will take place in the LRT studios. In the semi finals the results will be decided by jury and televote at a 50/50 split but the final decision in big final will be taken by the TV viewers through televoting. The semi-finals will be hosted by TV host Rolandas Vilkončius. During the final Gabrielė Bartkutė will join him, just like in 2007.
International fans will be able to watch all shows live on the LRT website.
