Norwegian TV have announced the hosts for the fifty-fifth Eurovision and for only the second time ever there will be three hosts.  Haddy N'jie, Erik Solbakken and Nadia Hasnaoui will present the contest, as Oslo 2010 goes ever further in replicating the Jerusalem 1999 presentation, now matching them with a  "two girl one guy" presentation combined with the very same date in the calendar (the latest Eurovision ever).  All we need now is Alexander Rybak doing a Dana International when presenting the trophy.     

A whole seven days before the programme the BBC have finally published details of how the 2010 United Kingdom entry and singer will be chosen. The song is pre-ordained and written by Mike Stock & Pete Waterman, Six acts have been chosen to participate in the selection show.  More info soon on the blog, but we are getting 2008 "couldn't care less" vibes already.          

After an uncommonly long silence from the the BBC regarding the UK entry, not known since at least, er, 2006, the corporation have announced that like last year they have cherry-picked a famous song-writer to compose their Eurovision song. Following in Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers footsteps is none other than the mighty Pete Waterman, famous for "The Hit Man And Her", flogging premium model railway stuff, and of course for being the engine of the wonderful Stock Aitken Waterman hit machine of the late eighties and early nineties.  Surprisingly he isn't the first Waterman in Eurovision history. Being associated with several past UK national final artists already, including the likes of Sinitta, Hazell Dean and of course Sonia, this news leaves us just plain agog with excitement.  The BBC are still being cagey about the selection process for the artist (if there will be one).     

A New Year present for fans is the final confirmation by the EBU of the entry list for the fifty-fifth contest. The one doubt was Lithuania, the country very bottom of the Nul Points all-time country rankings, but today their participation has been confirmed, meaning a total of 39 nations competing for the 2010 Grand Prix, a reduction of three from 2009 (Andorra, Czech Republic, Hungary and Montenegro have withdrawn whilst Georgia is back after missing the Moscow contest).    

Last night the Netherlands became the first country to reveal their entry for the 2010 contest. It was written by Pierre Kartner, better known around the globe as Smurf collaborator Father Abraham.  The Song is entitled  "Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)".  A performer will be selected in the New Year but we can assume the little blue guys will not be in the running.  So, five months before the contest the selection season gets well underway. Three of the other non-qualifiers from 2009 have announced their artists (Belgium, Belarus and Switzerland)  and all have gone for male vocalists.  As more news becomes available the 2010 page will be updated.    

This week Andorran TV decided that they will not participate in the 2010 Eurovision in Oslo. After six failed attempts to make the contest final they have withdrawn and thus joined Montenegro and the Czech Republic on the scrapheap of those who have found a place in the final beyond them.  

The EBU have announced a further change to the voting process for the next contest in Oslo. Telephone voting will now be possible throughout the performance of the songs rather than just after the last song finishes.  This is believed to be a way to counter the perceived advantage of songs drawn late in the running order, although no doubt a longer voting window won't harm phone revenue.  As in 2009, televoting will only account for fifty percent of each countries votes.  

MTV, that's Magyar Televizio the Hungarian state broadcaster and not Music TeleVision, have announced that they will not compete in the 2010 contest due to financial problems.  One of the first tranche of Eastern countries to join the contest, they took a six year break a decade ago and their participation since then has frequently been in doubt. In 2009 they twice had to replace their chosen song.

The European Broadcasting Union's move to make the 2009 Eurovision final voting determined half by the public and half by expert juries was overwhelmingly deemed a success.  Those of us tired at the built in advantage of nations with huge ex-patriot communities and/or friendly neighbours hoped that this would be extended to the semi-finals, and today our wishes have been granted!.   The last two years the semis have been "seeded" to try and reduce the problem, however whilst the Nordic countries have benefitted, the likes of Eurovision stalwarts Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, along with newcomers like Andorra, were still penalised.  Now  we have a much more level playing field for the whole contest week.  

After days of speculation it has now been confirmed officially that UK 2009 Eurovision singer Jade Ewen has replaced Keisha Buchanan in the Sugababes.  

Following reports (see below) of Azerbaijan TV revealing details of those citizens who cast a vote for Armenia, resulting in some individuals being questioned, the European Broadcasting Union have brought in a new ruling.  Any participating TV station that breaches confidentiality by revealing details of voters identity will be hit by a ban of up to three years from that nation participating at the contest.  

In the immediate aftermath of the 2009 contest Azerbaijan's third place finish in only their second contest lost some of it's lustre as rumours arose that Azeri television obscured the number for it's audience to dial if they fancied perchance voting for bitter neighbouring rival Armenia.  Now it seems that some of the brave souls who were determined to cast their vote for Armenia have been interrogated and potentially classified as a security risk.  Clearly data protection hasn't yet reached the Caucasus. 

Two long months after the first contest under the "50% juries 50% televoting"  the European Broadcasting Union have  decided to release the broken down jury and televote from each country. Internet rumour suggests that they held back on this to check that it wouldn't cause a furore.  It certainly seems strange that this could not have been released two months ago.   Here is a link to the stats  :

No huge surprises.  The usual suspects who ran riot the last few years with their ex-pat votes (Armenia, Turkey, Greece, Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan) all fared far worse with the juries, as did Bosnia who had to share the ex-Yugo diaspora vote in the absence of Serbia.  Equally, the fact that millions of people who haven't seen and heard all entries still vote was re-inforced as the very early songs also generally scored higher with juries.   All in all a great innovation that has restored our faith in the contest. 

The head of Czech television today announced that the Czech Republic will not participate in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.  They were the last country in Europe to join the Eurovision party (apart from the odd tiny principality) and they made their debut in 2007.  They have competed in three Eurovision semi-finals and garnered just ten points over that period (their artists are pictured above) : one point for their metal band in 2007, nine for a Britney clone in 2008 (peaking with five points from Macedonia) and a big fat nul points for gypsy rappers in 2009.   Not much different from Belgium actually.   There are now several countries in Western Europe who have regularly failed to make a Eurovision final for years due to the 100% televoting in the semis, but they keep coming back, either for television or for old times sake.  In a country with no Eurovision tradition it's no surprise that the Czechs have given up the ghost.  But sad that a major country in middle Europe has gone the way of Italy and Austria.   Hope to see you back one day!.            

Well in terms of the clock the 2009 Moscow contest was the latest ever as it commenced at 11pm local time and finished well after 2am.  Not content with that, next years contest will be the latest ever on the calendar. The final will take place on May 29th, with the semis on May 25th and 27th.  In all fairness the contest was originally scheduled for a week earlier before it became known that the 2010 Champions League final will take place on that Saturday night.  What a far cry from the sixties and seventies when finals were done and dusted in March or early April and national songs selected just weeks before the contest.  Now four months and more can elapse between a national final and the contest.  The first June Eurovision can only be a matter of time.