eurovision.tv has announced that the proposed changes to the Eurovision Song Contest format have been confirmed by the EBU Television committee. They have also announced that the preliminary date for rehearsals to start is Sunday 11th of May and the preliminary opening date for the press centre and accreditation desk is Saturday 10th of May.
BIG FOUR NEWS CONFIRMED
As revealed by esctoday.com last week, the Big Four countries, along with Serbia, will broadcast one semi final and have voting rights in it. They also have the option to broadcast the semi final that they are not voting in. The semi final draw, taking place at the Head of delegation meeting in January will determine which countries vote in each show as well as which countries participate in each semi final.
All participating countries will be divided into a total of six pots from which half will enter the first semi final, and the remaining countries will participate in the second semi final. The running order of the semi finals and final will be determined in a secondary draw at the March head of delegations meeting. You can read more information here.
BACK-UP JURY VOTE
Eurovision.tv has also confirmed the news that the back-up juries votes will count in 2008. As reported in September by esctoday.com, the new format will see the top nine countries as voted for by the current televoting system qualify from each semi final. After that, the highest ranked song according to the results of the back-up juries will be added, providing a total of ten qualifiers from each semi final. Which two countries qualify via the jury vote and which qualify by televotewill not be revealed until after the EurovisionSong Contest final.Read more on this change here.
No changes to the voting procedure for the final have been announced. All participating countries from the final and countries that do not qualify from the semi finals will vote in the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Svante Stockselius, the EBU’s Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, told Eurovision.tv "We are confident that the approved format revisions will take the Eurovision Song Contest to a higher level, by adding exciting elements and, above all, by making the competition more fair and the results more credible."
