On 13th February 2004, the Netherlands will select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The final of the Nationaal Songfestival will be preceded by four semifinals. For the 2005 selections NOS only received 240 songs, 50% less than last year.

During four semifinals, six songs will compete each time for three places in the final. The first semifinal will take place on Thursday 20th January, the other three semifinals on 27th January, 3rd February and 10th February. 12 songs will eventually compete in the final on Sunday 13th February. All shows will be held in the Pepsi Stage theatre in Amsterdam, the same venue as last year, and will be broadcast live on Nederland 2.

At the moment, a selection committee is judging 240 songs that have been submitted to NOS. 24 of them will make it to the semifinals. The titles and artists of these songs will probably be announced before the end of this year. Last year, NOS received 475 entries!

On 13th January, a kick-off program about the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast.