BERLIN, GERMANY – During the Reference Group meeting in Berlin, EBU and SVT decided that the Big 5 and Host Country will present (only) their entries in the Semi Finals in which they are allocated to vote anyway. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom along with Sweden will though officially compete in the Final.
“It will look so much better to show the Big Five and the host country on the Eurovision Song Contest stage, performing their act as it will be in the Grand Final,” says Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the contest on behalf of the EBU.
Therefore there will be more time for these countries to be in the Host City, more promotional time and more rehearsals time.
“More rehearsal time means better performances and a better TV show, since the production crew has more time to get acquainted with the act […] From here on, its in the hands of these six countries to pick great entries for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest,” Jon Ola Sand said.
The team of oikotimes.com is extremely happy with the news as our editor Olivier Rocher strongly pointed this feature a long time ago through an editorial on the website.