Eurovision questions.

NUTLEY BOY

Q1. Are we obliged to enter the Eurovision ?

Q2. Even if we don't enter the Eurovision do we have to pay anything towards the cost of running it ?

Mint Sauce

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

Q1. Are we obliged to enter the Eurovision ?

Q2. Even if we don't enter the Eurovision do we have to pay anything towards the cost of running it ?

as far as i'm aware no and no, my understanding is the uk, spain, france and italy, all qualify automatically because the contribute finicially, as for being obliged to enter, think this was san marinos first entry, and a number of countrys are all ready considering not entering

Mr.Nice Guy

irish-stew wrote:

as far as i'm aware no and no, my understanding is the uk, spain, france and italy, all qualify automatically because the contribute finicially

Italy actually haven't been in it for years. I think Germany is the country along with the three you mention that are financial contributors.

To the OP, Ireland doesn't have an obligation to be in it. Italy have withdrawn as did Luxembourg in the mid-nineties.

We wouldn't have to pay anything if we were not involved.

Mint Sauce

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Italy actually haven't been in it for years. I think Germany is the country along with the three you mention that are financial contributors.

To the OP, Ireland doesn't have an obligation to be in it. Italy have withdrawn as did Luxembourg in the mid-nineties.

We wouldn't have to pay anything if we were not involved.

opps, shows how much i watch it, but am i right in saying the UK, spain, and france contribute

KnifeWRENCH

irish-stew wrote: »

opps, shows how much i watch it, but am i right in saying the UK, spain, and france contribute

yeah, them and Germany are the "Big Four". I'm not sure for how muc longer though - they may very well pull out if it keeps going the way it is now. Sir Terry Wogan had some very uncomplimentary things to say about the Eurovision!
Here's how the Big 4 have finished in the last 5 years:

2008:
Spain = 16th
France = 19th
Germany = 23rd
UK = 25th

2007:
Germany = 19th
Spain = 20th
France and UK = Joint 22nd

2006:
Germany = 14th
UK = 19th
Spain = 21st
France = 22nd

2005: Big 4 were the Bottom 4.
Spain = 21st
UK = 22nd
France = 23rd
Germany = 24th

You'd wonder what motivation they have left to keep providing the money. In fairness, some of the UK entries have been terrible. But this year, France should definitely have done better (and Spain - coz it was funny )

anna.fun

Well I wonder if it wasn't an option for nearly all West-European countries to withdraw from the competition, which is paid with tax-payers money.

We can't win it, so why bother paying for it? You wouldn't buy a Winning Streak ticket, if you wouldn't have the slighest chance of winning! So why do it here, surely... we won many times, but that's years ago!!!

I think it would be better to withdraw from the competition.

jor el

square_igloo wrote: »

2008:
Spain = 16th
France = 19th
Germany = 23rd
UK = 25th

Does that mean UK came last on Saturday night? And the BBC commentators (and Andy Abrahams) were taking the piss out of Dustin on Tuesday for having a crap song, then their serious song comes last! Ha!

I'm surprised by Germany coming so far down, and that French song wasn't half bad either (even if the guy looks a little strange), and Spain, well that was comical.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Didn't we mis a year at some poit in the mid 80s or early 90s? Not sure...

There's been a large geographical shift in this thing recently - give it another decade and it'll be pretty much the East Eurovision song contest. Unless they make the semi-finals regional (ie: one semi for west, one for east)

The other thing is the phone voting. As long as people are making money out of millions of East Europeans with mobiles, nothing will change!

P.

Ponster

anna.fun wrote: »

We can't win it, so why bother paying for it?

I'd say that yes, we can easily win it if we had a song worth voting for. People may complain about the bloc voting but this year for example, Russia went in as favourites (at least here in France) and won it with what wasn't a bad song.

I also don't think that a county always enters to win. National football teams enter the Euro 2008 knowing that they didn't have a chance of winning but they did so to do the best they could and create a 'presence' as such for their country. If it wasn't for football I wouldn't know that the places like San Marino even existed.

For me the Eurovision has always been a marketing tool used to show off the talents of your country in which entering is more important than winning. If so many people on boards cared about the comp as much as they seem to do they why submit a song that has very little chance of winning and this year didn't even make it to the finals? Ireland, since the voting system changed to let anyone with a mobile phone vote, doesn't seem to be playing to win any more. ( all IMHO of course )