CROATIA 🇭🇷
Last month, it was reported that Croatian broadcaster HRT could not confirm their participation in the contest. However, the broadcaster has now said that they plan to decide on participation in October, as they are currently planning their budget. It was also recently revealed that the country would host the 2020 edition of Eurovision Young Musicians in the capital Zagreb.
SPAIN 🇪🇸
OT 2018 winner Famous Oberogo wants to go to Eurovision 2020. He was one of the few, if not the only, Operación Triunfo 2018 act who really wanted to go to Eurovision 2019. Sadly, Famous Oberogo was paired with a sub-par song and the public buried his chances. However, one year later, the OT 2018 winner wants to give Eurovision another go.
INDONESIA 🇮🇩
The ABU has revealed that it attended the 2019 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel as part of a fact finding mission. Koichi Okumura, the Head of Programming at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union attended the contest in May to find out more about the organisation of the competition. This is not the first time that the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union has sent a representative to the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2012 Kenny Kihyung Bae from KBS, was the Project Manager for the ABU TV Song Festival, and attended the contest in Baku, Azerbaijan.
ICELAND 🇮🇸
Icelandic broadcaster RÚV revealed in an official statement that some delegates were meeting with representatives of the European Broadcasting Union to discuss possible financial penalties to be imposed on the broadcaster for the Hatari protest with the Palestinian flag at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contes.
AZERBAIJAN 🇦🇿
iTV, the national broadcaster of Azerbaijan, has been formally invited by the Secretary General of the ABU to participate in the ABU Song Contest 2020.
PORTUGAL 🇵🇹
In promotion of his latest work “Paris, Lisbon” and after visiting several European countries, Salvador Sobral continues to announce more concerts in Europe. Following the announcement of concerts in Ukraine and the United Kingdom, the winner of the 2017 Eurovision Festival has now unveiled a mini tour in the Netherlands. Rotterdam, Groningen and Nijmegen will host the Portuguese artist in March 2020, with their first concert scheduled for March 21 at De Doelen in the Eurovision 2020 host city. Stadsschouwburg Groningen and Stadsschouwburg Nijmegen will host the artist on 24-28th of March, respectively, and ticket sales begin on September 6th.
CZECH REPUBLIC 🇨🇿
Eight acts are in the running to represent the Czech Republic at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. In an update regarding preparations for next years contest, Ceska Televize has confirmed that the line up for the selection has been determined.
LATVIA 🇱🇻
Latvian media reports that the budget required for LTV to participate in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest has not yet been agreed. A total of €300,000 is required for the broadcaster to take part in the competition and to hold its related selection show for the competition.
EUROVISION 2020 🇳🇱
NPO have added two more names to the team organising and producing the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. Gerben Bakker has been named Head of Show, with Babet Verstappen taking on the role of Head of Communications for Rotterdam 2020. Moe team members are: Marianne Engel (Executive Assistant), Richard van Vught (Head of Security), Joyce Casteelen (Head of Event Logistics) and Peter Mooiweer (Head of Finance). Dave Geensen will be the Host City Project Manager of behalf of the city of Rotterdam, with Arnaud Hordijk doing the same for the venue, Ahoy.
