AUSTRALIA – It takes a while before Asian song festival arrives. The plans for an Asian version of the Eurovision Song Contest have been put on hold for the time being. Australian broadcaster SBS, who wants to organize the first edition, is currently focusing on the next edition of the regular song festival, a spokesperson told BuzzE.
“We continue to explore the possibilities for Eurovision Asia together with the European Broadcasting Union. Together with the European Broadcasting Union, we will continue to explore the possibilities for Eurovision Asia, but will first focus on the national song festival Australia Decides 2020,” said the source. The winner of that national competition is in May at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
The plans for an Asian song festival already date from 2016. The first edition was supposed to take place a year later but has been postponed several times. The aim was to reach December 2019 last year, while the Australian Gold Coast was considered a possible host city, but that too eventually did not happen.
Some countries have already indicated that they want to participate in an Asian song festival. China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, among others, have shown interest.
As an exception, Australia has been participating in the regular song festival since 2015. Originally it would be a one-off but the EBU gave Australia permission to be part of the party in the years that follow. The song festival is extremely popular down-under.
