BEIJING, CHINA – China will air the Eurovision Song Contest for a third year in a row. Mango TV will broadcast the event both on television and on the Internet for the first time. Furthermore, a Chinese delegation will be present in Stockholm with thirteen journalists from the country.
Interest in the Eurovision Song Contest has been increasing in China over the past few years. Martin Osterdahl, this year’s Executive Producer, said, “Their interest has been increasing, but this year is the first they will air it both through steaming and broadcast. It is very interesting since we for the last ten years have felt entertainment-TV lose its mark. It has been used as an example of the death of TV in general. At the same time, Eurovision keeps growing against the trend. It says a lot about the power of the event”.
A spokesperson for Hunan Television, Ying Lei, said China would be interested in getting its own wildcard entry in the European event. “That’s the question we ask”, she said. “Whether we can follow [Australia] and at least have a special performer on the stage and then join the big family and join the show”. Sietse Bakker, Eurovision’s event supervisor, confirmed in May 2015 that there had been “increasing interest” from China. “If that interest grows, who knows”? he said. “In a couple of years we would have a world song contest”.
DID YOU KNOW?
Due to growing interest in the contest from outside Europe, Australian broadcaster SBS announced an Asia Pacific version of the show, which would bring together up to 20 competing countries, with the first event hosted by Australia in 2017
