This year’s version of one of the most popular multi-national annual TV broadcasts got a step closer last night, as event organisers unveiled a number of key details relating to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, which is being staged in Baku (Azerbaijan).

The singing competition is open to entries from all eligible member nations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an organisation that allows national public broadcasters to reach common goals and innovations in TV technology.

The main outlet of this is Eurovision, which has been ongoing since 1956 and broadcast free-to-air through all members (as well as online), and was last year won by Azerbaijani duet Ell & Nikki in Dusseldorf (Germany), with their country’s prize being to host the next edition.

With the final of the contest exactly 4 months away now (26 May), yesterday saw Azerbaijani network Ictmai TV (iTV) produce a live broadcast (from the ‘Buta Palace’) designed mainly for online viewers, showing the official announcements of the contest’s logo and ‘visual identity’, the venue that will be used (the soon-to-be-completed ‘Baku Crystal Hall’), and for the nations that have not been automatically placed in the final, when they will be singing for a chance to get there.

The ‘semi-final allocation draw’, hosted by local TV presenters Leyla Alieva and Nazim Huseynov, saw event officials draw the names of 37 of the 43 participating nations into large groups of two semi-finals (to be held on 22 & 24 May), from which the top 10 of each will make it into the final alongside the hosts (Azerbaijan) and European broadcasting’s long-designated ‘Big 5′ financial contributors (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), completing a line-up of 26 finalists.

The draw was made partially on a geographical basis to ensure a more even spread throughout the competition, as well as reviewing voting patterns from previous editions, moves which only scratch the surface of the reportedly complex rules of the yearly sing-off. Also drawn was the way that the competition is voted for (with half of the finalists and one semi-final block voting for the opposite semi-final), though the line-up is currently only partially complete, as the draw was only for what ‘part’ of each semi-final the participants would find themselves in (with full line-ups being decided in March).

With some of the key administrative items out of the way, what will be the next developments (namely the singers being chosen) from the big musical names and European nations hoping to conquer in Baku come May 2012?

The current line-up for the Eurovision semi-finals can be seen below:

Semi-Final 1 (22 May)
1st half of show
Albania
Belgium
Finland
Greece
Iceland
Latvia
Montenegro
Romania
Switzerland

2nd half of show
Austria
Cyprus
Denmark
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Moldova
Russia
San Marino

 

Semi-Final 2 (24 May)
1st half of show
Armenia [participation uncertain]
Belarus
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Ukraine

2nd half of show
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Croatia
Estonia
Georgia
Lithuania
Norway
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Turkey

 

Final (26 May)
Azerbaijan [votes in semi 1]
France [semi 2]
Italy [semi 1]
Germany [semi 2]
Spain [semi 1]
UK [semi 2]
Top 10 entrants from Semi-Final 1
Top 10 entrants from Semi-Final 2

Latest TV searches:

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