Kazakh television channel Khabar Agency will become an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as of  January 1st, 2016.

The EBU has confirmed to ESCToday that the Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency has been accepted as an Associate Member of the EBU at the EBU General Assemby held earlier this month, and will thus gain this status as of January 1st, 2016.

ESCToday asked the EBU if Kazakhstan would be eligible to participate at the forthcoming 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. The EBU confirmed to ESCToday that under the current rules of the Eurovision Song Contest Kazakhstan is NOT ELIGIBLE to compete in Eurovision next year, thus ruling out the possibility of seeing the country debut in the competition in Stockholm.

The participation of SBS and Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest is an exceptional case. SBS is also an ASSOCIATE Member of the EBU.

Regarding a possible participation of Kazakhstan at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, it is yet to be seen if the country will be invited to compete in the event in the future. ESCToday has learned that the rules and regulations for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest are yet to be drawn. The 2017 ESC rules will be drawn up by the EBU after the 2016 Eurovision edition.

Stay tuned to ESCToday for the latest news on Kazakhstan and the Eurovision Song Contest.