More news coming out from Moscow today is that one rumour that surfaced after the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest has been laid to rest. France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom will not lose their 'Big Four' privilege of an automatic place in the Eurovision Song Contest final.

Following another year of poor results for the Eurovision Song Contest 'Big Four', many media speculated that the four countries would surrender their automatic place in the final of the competition. As the four large financial contributors to the competition, their entrieshave beenautomatically qualified for the final since the introduction of a semi final in 2004. There will be no change in that status in Moscow.

In Belgrade, Spain finished in 16th place and France could only manage 19th position, despite having two of the most talked about entries of the year. Germany were 23rd and the United Kingdom finished in last place, both with 14 points.

Thereis a general view that under the current televoting system, not performing in one of the semi finals puts the countries at a disadvantage because their song is only heard once in the final rather than twice – by not performing livein a semi final, even though a small part of the official video clips are now shown in both semi finals during the voting window.

Traditionally, the Big Four have done well at the Eurovision Song Contest. France and the United Kingdom have each won the competition five times, Spain twice and Germany once. The United Kingdom also holds the record for the most number of second place finishes and the most entries in the top three of the competition but their results have fallen dramatically in recent years. Spain's last win came 39 years ago, France have waited 31 years since their last victory, Germany's only win came in 1982 and the United Kingdom has won once since 1981.

In fact, at least two of the Big Four have occupied places in the bottom four on the scoreboard for the last four years. In that time, with a total of 16 entries between them, none have achieved a place in the top half of the scoreboard. Germany came closest in 2006 with Texas Lightning. The song was one of the favourites to win the competition according to fans and bookmakers before the night but could only finish 15th.

2008 positions (out of 25)

• 16th – Spain
• 19th – France
• 23rd – Germany
• 25th – United Kingdom

2007 positions (out of 24):

• 19th – Germany
• 20th – Spain
• 22nd – France
• 23rd – United Kingdom

2006 positions (out of 24)

• 15th – Germany
• 19th – United Kingdom
• 21st – Spain
• 22nd – France

2005 positions (out of 24)

• 21st – Spain
• 22nd – United Kingdom
• 23rd – France
• 24th – Germany

The Big Four, along with the host country, will automatically take their places in the 2009 final in Moscow.