The Eurovision Song Contest is a song competition held every year by countries that are active members of the European Broadcasting Union. This contest was inaugurated in the year 1956 and has been held every year since its inception. In fact, it is the longest running television program in the world. Also, it has the honor of being the most-watched non-sporting event in the history of television.
Each participant country has a television broadcasting channel that is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It is the responsibility of this channel to select a song and a singer from among many other participants to represent their country on the international stage. The event is broadcasted live in every participating country at the same time. Once the performances are over, the participating countries caste their vote for the best song performance in the event. A country cannot vote for its own performance.
The winner is the country whose entry gets the highest number of votes. These votes include votes coming from the jury and from tele-voting which enables people from the participant countries to vote for their favorite song.
The origin of this contest lay in the rehabilitation of Europe after the Second World War came to an end. In an effort to promote peace, harmony and collective interaction of European countries, the contest was born. It was the idea of Frenchman employed at the EBU. In those days, before the advent of satellite television, it was considered an ambitious venture to hold a television contest that was be broadcasted simultaneously in a number of different countries.
But the attempt has been a success, thanks to the 4 largest contributing countries of the EBU: UK, France, Spain and Germany, who are now known as the Big Four within the competition and are forever included in the semi-finals regardless of the votes they get.
The rules of the competition dictate that the country that wins a Eurovision Song Contest is invited to host the next event in the following year.
In 2008, the trophy was won by Russian Dima Bilan for the song Believe. Thence, the 54th Eurovision Song Contest, 2009 will be held in Moscow, Russia. The rival will be held in the Olympic Arena in Moscow, it was confirmed by Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, himself. This was as well confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union.
Alike many host countries, Russian capital is likely to take this chance to showcase its classical city and advertise tourism. The calendar week preceding the Eurovision final is expected to be full of activity within the city considering the semi-finals are being hung in two separated days.
The two semi-finals will be held on the 12th and 14th of May, 2009. The city should grasp this opportunity of daily broadcast for almost a week throughout the world to introduce its splendors to the world.
Each participant country has a television broadcasting channel that is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It is the responsibility of this channel to select a song and a singer from among many other participants to represent their country on the international stage. The event is broadcasted live in every participating country at the same time. Once the performances are over, the participating countries caste their vote for the best song performance in the event. A country cannot vote for its own performance.
The winner is the country whose entry gets the highest number of votes. These votes include votes coming from the jury and from tele-voting which enables people from the participant countries to vote for their favorite song.
The origin of this contest lay in the rehabilitation of Europe after the Second World War came to an end. In an effort to promote peace, harmony and collective interaction of European countries, the contest was born. It was the idea of Frenchman employed at the EBU. In those days, before the advent of satellite television, it was considered an ambitious venture to hold a television contest that was be broadcasted simultaneously in a number of different countries.
But the attempt has been a success, thanks to the 4 largest contributing countries of the EBU: UK, France, Spain and Germany, who are now known as the Big Four within the competition and are forever included in the semi-finals regardless of the votes they get.
The rules of the competition dictate that the country that wins a Eurovision Song Contest is invited to host the next event in the following year.
In 2008, the trophy was won by Russian Dima Bilan for the song Believe. Thence, the 54th Eurovision Song Contest, 2009 will be held in Moscow, Russia. The rival will be held in the Olympic Arena in Moscow, it was confirmed by Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, himself. This was as well confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union.
Alike many host countries, Russian capital is likely to take this chance to showcase its classical city and advertise tourism. The calendar week preceding the Eurovision final is expected to be full of activity within the city considering the semi-finals are being hung in two separated days.
The two semi-finals will be held on the 12th and 14th of May, 2009. The city should grasp this opportunity of daily broadcast for almost a week throughout the world to introduce its splendors to the world.
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