On February 4th at 18:00 and at 21:00 you can watch the first semi final of the Ukrainian national selection in the following links: livestream1, livestream2. The Ukrainian national final is tentatively scheduled to take place in February 2017 in Kiev. The selection will be a joint production between the Ukrainian national broadcaster NTU and commercial broadcaster STB. All shows in the competition will hosted by Serhiy Prytula and broadcast on both UA:Pershyi and STB. The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry will take place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters have the opportunity to apply for the competition either through an online application form or by attending a scheduled audition during designated dates. Applicants also have the option of entering an online wildcard selection, the winner of which will gain direct entry into the competition’s final show. The second stage will consist of three televised semi-finals to be held in February 2017, which will feature eight to twelve acts competing in each show. Two to three acts will be selected to advance from each semi-final based on the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. The third stage will be the final on 25 February 2017 and will feature the eight to 12 qualifying acts from the semi-finals and the winner of the online wildcard selection. The overall winning entry will be determined via the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. The expert jury that will vote during the shows will consist of:
- Konstantin Meladze – Composer and producer
- Jamala – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Ukraine
- Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka
On February 4th at 19:30 you can watch the third heat of A Dal here: livestream1, livestream2. The third heat will take place on 4 February 2017 where ten entries will compete. Six entries will qualify to the semi-finals after two rounds of voting. In the first round of voting, five qualifiers will be determined by the combination of scores from each judge and an aggregate score from a viewer vote will base on scores submitted through SMS, mobile app and online voting. It was originally to take place on 21 January 2017, but a few hours before the show, it was announced that the heat would be postponed, due to the 2017 Verona bus crash, where several Hungarian students were killed. The timeslot was replaced by a vigil for the victims of the accident. The new date for the heat was announced on 24 January.
On February 4th at 20:00 CET you can watch the fourth heat of the Lithuanian national selection here: livestream1, livestream2. For the 2017 Contest, the Lithuanian national broadcaster, Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT), will broadcast the event within Lithuania and will organise the selection process for the nation’s entry. Other than the internal selection of their debut entry in 1994, Lithuania has selected their entry consistently through a national final procedure, a method that was continued for their 2016 participation. LRT confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 11 August 2016. On 11 October 2016, the broadcaster announced the organization of “Eurovizijos” dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka, which would be the national final to select Lithuania’s entry for Kiev.
The first semi final of Melodifestivalen is taking place on February 4th at 20:00 CET and can be watched here: lifestream. Melodifestivalen 2017 is the Swedish music competition that will select Sweden’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. 28 songs will initially compete in a six-week-long process which will consist of four semi-finals on 4, 11, 18 and 25 February 2017, a Second Chance round on 4 March 2017, and a final on 11 March 2017. The six shows will be hosted by Clara Henry, David Lindgren and Hasse Andersson.
On February 5th we will have the Swiss national final at 20:00 CET and can be watched here: livestream. Die Entscheidungsshow will be the seventh edition of the Swiss national final format that will select Switzerland’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The national final will be a collaboration between four broadcasters that form SRG SSR: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), the Swiss-French broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse(RTS), the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) and the Swiss-Romansh broadcaster Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha (RTR). The Swiss selection process will be carried out over three phases. Changes for the 2017 edition were introduced, one of the which saw the end to the individual broadcasters running independent submissions and selections in order to determine their quota of entries for further phases of the selection. The first phase of the selection involved an open submission period that ran from 26 September 2016 until 24 October 2016 during which eligible entries could be submitted via an online platform. Submitted entries were not made accessible to the public as in previous editions. A new regulation for the 2017 edition underscored that the entries must have had a link to Switzerland; at least one person (the performer, composer, or lyricist) were required to have a Swiss passport or be a resident in Switzerland. A 21-member jury panel composed of music experts (producers, representatives of the music industry, musicians, journalists, etc.) evaluated the submitted entries between 31 October 2016 and 14 November 2016. Die Entscheidungsshow will take place on 5 February 2017 at SRF’s Studio 1 in Zürich, hosted by Sven Epiney. The show will be televised on SRF zwei. The winning entry will be determined solely by a public televote. The finalists were announced on 5 December 2016. In addition to the performances from the competing artists, Swiss Eurovision Song Contest 2014entrant Sebalter will perform his song “Weeping Willow”.
Latvia is also entering the national selection marathon as Supernova begins at 20:25 CET and can be watched here on February 5th: livestream. The first heat will take place on 5 February 2017. Four entries will qualify to the semi-final. The eleven competing entries first will face a public vote where the top two songs will advance. An additional two qualifiers will be selected from the remaining eight entries by the jury. Supernova 2017 will be the third edition of Supernova, the music competition that selects Latvia’s entries for the Eurovision Song Contest. Competition producer Ilze Jansone stated that the goal of Supernova, as in the previous two years, is to find a competitive song and artist with potential for international success. The competition will commence on 5 February 2017 and conclude with a final on 26 February 2017. The format of the competition will consist of four shows: two heats, one semi-final and a final. The four shows will take place at LTV Studio 6 in Riga. LTV will broadcast two introductory shows on 22 and 29 January 2017 that will cover the background preparation processes and performer auditions that occur prior to the competition. The competing entries will also be announced during the second introductory show on 29 January. The two heats, to be held on 5 and 12 February 2017, will each feature between eight and ten competing entries from which four will advance to the semi-final from each show. The semi-final, to be held on 19 February 2017, will feature the eight qualifiers from the heats from which the top four will proceed to the final. The final, to be held on 26 February 2017, will select the Latvian entry for Kiev from the remaining four entries. Results during the heats and the semi-final shows will be determined by a jury panel and votes from the public. In the heats and the semi-final, the songs will first face a public vote where the top two entries will qualify. The jury will then select an additional two qualifiers from the remaining entries to proceed in the competition. In the final, a public vote will exclusively determine which entry will be the winner.
