French Public Television (TV France) announced earlier its plans for the second half of the TV season. As mentioned in the relevant press conference, the country’s national final for Eurovision 2021, Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez, will be held in January with 12 participants and presenter Stephane Bern. Read more
The EBU recently revealed how to ensure that Eurovision 2021 will happen, even in the worst case scenario with the course of the coronary pandemic.
After yesterday’s announcement that the distribution of countries in the two semifinals remains the same as that of Eurovision 2020, but also the presentation of the four possible scenarios for the conduct of Eurovision 2021, now another detail is given, concerning scenario D. In the new announcement of the EBU, concern the case in which in May the situation with the pandemic will be such that it will not allow air travel and reconnaissance, having a contest as Junior Eurovision 2020 will happen in a few days . With video appearances of the participants!
All participating broadcasters were asked to record a live performance of their entries in their country. This recording will be delivered before the contest and will take place in a studio. The recording will take place in real time (as it would in the contest) without making changes to the vocals or any part of the show itself after the recording.
There will be freedom in the delegations, to present as they consider their participations better, but instructions will be given which will ensure the fairness and integrity of the competition. There will be no audience and the recording should be unique and not be published before the event in May.
Delegations are allowed to use similar technical capabilities and dimensions that would be available on stage in Rotterdam, but are also free to choose a more limited production facility. Video recordings must not contain augmented or virtual reality, overlays, confetti, drone shots, water, color use or green screen.
Normally in the Eurovision Song Contest all the artists would appear on the same stage under the same conditions giving everyone the same opportunity to shine. For the live recordings, the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest approved additional measures to guarantee the fairness of the contest.
Prior to the recording, each participating broadcaster will meet with a representative from Host Broadcasters and submit a recording session schedule, studio setup and camera schedule.
The Head of Delegation will be on site during the registration period of 60 minutes and up to three authorized expirations, either alone or with an appropriate mandate, to make the final decision on the selection of the final receipt (from three).
A live link will be created during the recording to allow the Eurovision Executive Supervisor and a representative from an independent voting observer (E&Y) and Host Broadcaster to monitor the recording, provide assistance and support, and ensure the integrity and fairness of the contest.
No videos of the appearances from the national finals can be submitted, but each country can record on the same stage. The “live-on-tape” recordings must be delivered by the end of March.
Of course, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, all of the above will apply in the case of contestants who will not be able to attend Rotterdam in May. The 65th Eurovision Song Contest will take place anyway!
A little while ago through the official social networks of the contest, it was announced that the draw of the semi-finals of this year’s contest will also apply to Eurovision 2021. Read more
A few moments ago, the EBU revealed the list of the participating countries at the upcoming contest of Eurovision 2021, on 18th, 20th and 22nd of May in Rotterdam the Netherlands. Actually they are the same 41 nations that were about to take part in the 2020 contest that was canceled due to the COVID19 pandemic.
EBU and the Dutch host broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS have already revealed the 4 scenarios which their are focused on, and they abide by the restrictions and the facts of the pandemic and according to which the Eurovision 2021 will take place. The scenario, which will be chosen, will be announced in due time.
Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said:
“We are grateful for the commitment of the 41 participating broadcasters in helping us bring the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2021.”
“We have the exact same line up of countries that would have competed in 2020 and we are thrilled that they will all return next year. Together with our host broadcasters we are continuing to develop the 4 different scenarios and maintaining a dialogue with all participants. The team from NPO, NOS and AVROTROS are working hard on ensuring the Eurovision Song Contest will provide the excitement and innovation expected by over 180 million viewers, despite the challenging circumstances.”
Of the 41 nations taking part, 35 will compete in two Semi-Finals with 10 successful acts from each Semi-Final joining the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) and hosts the Netherlands in the Grand Final.
Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, said:
“It is fantastic that the same 41 countries that would have taken part this year still want to come to the Netherlands in May 2021. This demonstrates their confidence in our country still being able to organize a successful Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next year, after the cancellation of the 2020 edition.”
“We have set the bar high to create 3 amazing live shows for an audience of 180 million people, even in these challenging times. To achieve this, we are working on an extensive protocol that guarantees the health of employees, participants, the press and visitors as much as possible.”
Participating broadcasters
The following countries (and EBU Member broadcasters) will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam:
Albania (RTSH)
Armenia (AMPTV)
Australia (SBS)*
Austria (ORF)
Azerbaijan (Ictimai TV)
Belarus (BTRC)
Belgium (VRT)
Bulgaria (BNT)
Croatia (HRT)
Cyprus (CyBC)
Czech Republic (CT)
Denmark (DR)
Estonia (ERR)
Finland (YLE)
France (FT)
Germany (ARD/NDR)
Georgia (GPB)
Greece (ERT)
Iceland (RUV)
Ireland (RTE)
Israel (KAN)
Italy (RAI)
Latvia (LTV)
Lithuania (LRT)
Malta (PBS)
Moldova (TRM)
The Netherlands (AVROTROS)
North Macedonia (MKRTV)
Norway (NRK)
Poland (TVP)
Portugal (RTP)
Romania (TVR)
Russia (Channel One)
San Marino (RTV)
Serbia (RTS)
Slovenia (RTVSLO)
Spain (TVE)
Sweden (SVT)
Switzerland (SRG SSR)
Ukraine (UA:PBC)
United Kingdom (BBC)
*EBU Associate
It is worth to be mentioned this is the first time since 1990 that we have the same amount of participating countries in two consecutive years.
Source: Eurovision.tv
Maria Doyle, who represented Ireland at Eurovision 1985, with the surname Christian at the time, occupying sixth place with the song Wait Until The Weekend Comes, revealed in a recent interview that she has submitted a song for the French national final.
The 50-year-old blind singer now lives with her French husband and their seven children in Lunévilloise. A few months ago she impressed with her voice and interpretation, reaching the semifinals of The Voice of France. In fact, in Blind Audition she made all the judges cry with emotion, having on stage almost her whole family.
Maria Doyle says in her interview that representing France in the Eurovision Song Contest is a dream and she was always looking for a way to make it happen. This year, she literally submitted her entry at the last minute, after a journalist from the Irish Embassy in France informed her about the national final for Eurovision 2021 on public television.
In fact, Maria Doyle reveals that she has been invited for the first casting, hoping to go through all the phases and win the French ticket to Rotterdam.
French public television is holding Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez, for Eurovision 2021, through which the song and the country’s representative for the competition will be announced. After two years with mediocre results, France hopes for a better result in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.
Do you think Maria Doyle would be a good choice for France?
Let’s remember Maria Doyle’s previous entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, with the colors of Ireland:
Tom Leeb’s Eurovision 2020 entry, “The Best In Me”, was announced in mid-February and shortly after French Culture Minister Franck Riester described the song’s English chorus as disturbing in response to a question from a center party LREM’s MP.
The issue went on to add that the French representative at Eurovision, which is a national contest, should proudly use the French language, stressing that it prefers the country’s representatives to sing in French and not win, rather than with an English song.
When the tracks were due to expire, it became known that the title of the French entry had changed with the song now being titled “Mon Alliée”. Apart from the use of a French title, the track has undergone changes as the French have become more used to it, giving it what it had been stressed to lack.
Listen to the final version of France’s entry, “Mon Alliée”, below:
Shortly after announcing Steven Clerima‘s resignation as head of the French Delegation at Eurovision song contest, France TV lost no time, appointing Alexandra Redde, as the new Head.
https://twitter.com/France2_Presse/status/1202900845156810754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1202900845156810754&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feurovisionfun.com%2F2019%2F12%2F%25ce%25b3%25ce%25b1%25ce%25bb%25ce%25bb%25ce%25af%25ce%25b1-%25ce%25bd%25ce%25ad%25ce%25b1-%25ce%25b1%25cf%2581%25cf%2587%25ce%25b7%25ce%25b3%25cf%258c%25cf%2582-%25ce%25b1%25cf%2580%25ce%25bf%25cf%2583%25cf%2584%25ce%25bf%25ce%25bb%25ce%25ae%25cf%2582-%25ce%25b7-%25ce%25b4%25ce%25b9%25ce%25b5%25cf%2585%25ce%25b8%25cf%258d%2F
The new Head of Delegation has been a senior executive at France TV for years, having even recently spent time as the organization’s entertainment director. The selection of an executive from France TV’s top management post to the position of head of delegation indicates how important French public television now attaches to the contest.
We are now eagerly awaiting the final announcements of France on how to choose to participate in Eurovision 2020!
Eurovision 2020 will find many countries with new delegation chiefs, after Steven Clerima, head of the French delegation in the contest, announced his resignation.
https://twitter.com/stevenclerima/status/1202892316178046976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1202892316178046976&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feurovisionfun.com%2F2019%2F12%2F%25ce%25b3%25ce%25b1%25ce%25bb%25ce%25bb%25ce%25af%25ce%25b1-%25cf%2580%25ce%25b1%25cf%2581%25ce%25b1%25ce%25b9%25cf%2584%25ce%25ae%25ce%25b8%25ce%25b7%25ce%25ba%25ce%25b5-%25ce%25bf-%25ce%25b1%25cf%2581%25cf%2587%25ce%25b7%25ce%25b3%25cf%258c%25cf%2582-%25ce%25b1%25cf%2580%25ce%25bf%25cf%2583%25cf%2584%25ce%25bf%25ce%25bb%2F
Steven Clerima has been a member of France’s Eurovision delegations for the past four years. Ever since then, Amir with “J’ai cherché” has rekindled French interest in the competition. He took over as head of delegation last year after succeeding Edoardo Grassi. He was in fact the Head of Delegation of France to Eurovision 2019 and Junior Eurovision 2018 and 2019.
This change comes at a time when there are reports in the French press about changing the country’s approach to public television in how to opt in, with the most likely scenarios being direct assignment or a small national final with 3 or 4 songs.
Last week, French media reported that the country would choose its next representative in the Eurovision song contest. This meant that Destination Eurovision was not going to take place a third time. Ultimately, this seems to be a misunderstanding of the term “direct assignment”, since France 2 has not yet decided on Bilal’s successor, not even ruling out a national final with 3 or 4 candidates.
French television already receives songs for Eurovision 2020 but with the significant difference that for the first time since 2004 it has received entries from foreign composers as well. What is expected is that they will either become a national final with 3 or 4 candidates or will be selected by direct assignment, as was the case in 2016 and 2017 with positive results.
Bilal Hassani was the winner of the last Destination Eurovision and France’s representative at Eurovision 2019. He performed “Roi” on the stage of Tel Aviv and took 16th place with 105 points.
The French public broadcaster, France Televisions, confirmed recently before its intention not to host the “Destination Eurovision” show in 2020, which has been used for the last two years to mark the French representative at Eurovision. Instead, France’s choice of Rotterdam will be directly assigned this year.
According to information and sources from Le Parisien, including Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of entertainment at France Télévisions, France 2 will not renew the Eurovision Destination format. At least two reasons seem to have led to this choice.
First, Destination Eurovision had very low viewing rates compared to contest. Both in the process of appointing the French representative and especially in comparison to Eurovision itself, the TV shares were in the dark. In particular, the televised final of its national selection was three times smaller than the May 18 final in Tel Aviv.
The second reason is, according to Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the desire of French television to have complete control over the choice of artist to compete in Rotterdam in May.
“We want to control the process more, through direct outsourcing. That is what Spain and England will do this year. We will develop our strengths differently. We are thinking about several options. By changing our process, we hope to reach the Top 5 in 2020”
The French public broadcaster has asked several French composers, as well as foreign producers for the first time, to submit their proposals on the song and artist that may represent France in the 65th edition of Eurovision.
Finally, according to the article, the representative of France and the song contesting will be formally presented in a special TV show broadcast in France 2. Although no details have been provided, it is very likely that such a presentation will held before the meeting of the Heads of Missions in mid-March 2020.
Bilal Hassani was the winner of the last Destination Eurovision and France’s representative at Eurovision 2019. He performed “Roi” on the stage of Tel Aviv and took 16th place with 105 points.
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