The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom has announced that the fourth season of HaKochav Haba La’eirovizyion (Rising Star for Eurovision), which will be used to select the Israeli representative for Eurovision 2017, will kick off in January.

Unlike last year, the season this time will be made of ten programs only, due to difficulties in finding broadcast times and the tight schedule for selecting an entry, as the artist and song must be chosen before mid-March.

It is expected that the final of Rising Star 2017 will be a singer selection only, like in 2015, while the song will then be selected internally. However, no official information was revealed so far.

Furthermore, it is unclear whether the new Israeli national broadcaster, IPBC, will take care of the Israeli participation for Eurovision 2017. Its launch, that was planned for 30 September 2016, is postponed to 30 April 2017, with the possibility to go on air as early as 1 January 2017. It is highly possible that the current broadcaster, IBA, will continue broadcasting until 2018.

Since the introduction of Rising Star as the mechanism for choosing the Israeli representative in 2015, Israel has managed to qualify to the final twice, after failing to qualify from 2011 to 2014, finishing 9th in 2015 and 14th in 2016.

Hovi Star singing Made of stars in the final of Rising Star 2016

Stay tuned to ESCToday for more news regarding Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017