Svante Stockselius, Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest for the EBU, is already in Istanbul for a while to take a close look on the preparations for the upcoming contest. In less than two weeks, more than 2,000 press representatives will arrive. Svante Stockselius tells us!

Details finalized
“The preparations for the 49th Eurovision Song Contest proceeds – now with full speed in order to be ready for the two shows. The host broadcaster TRT has finalized deals with foreign lighting company (Spectra Plus) and multi camera director (Sven Stojanovic) and his team, all with previous experiences from producing the Eurovision Song Contest”.

Venue and stage
“It is impressing to see the development every day in the Abdi Ípekçi Stadium. The motto for this years show is 'Under the same sky' and a huge stage is under construction, inspired by the domes of Hagia Sophia. The venue will hold approximately 7,500 spectators during the shows. The tickets to the Final were sold out in a couple of days”.

Press centre outside!
“A big press area is being built outside the main hall, inside a big tent there will be working areas and press conference facilities for over 2,000 journalists”.

Hosts
“The two hosts of the shows, Meltem Cumbul and Korhan Abay, are preparing their performances and working on the scripts. The producers are working on the latest versions of the two run downs. The other day two delegations with thier artists came to a visit in the arena, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Ukraine”.

Slight problems solved
“Of course, there has also been problems. Not all of the preparations has been smoothly, many contracts have been late, some work have started way after dead lines. The main reasons to these delays are the widespread of this years contest, with two shows and many participants, but also due to the complexity of the Turkish tender rules that TRT must obey”.

We kindly thank Svante Stockselius for the time he took to write a report for us!