FINALS

VRT was the first national broadcaster to announce their national selection forthe 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. They launched Eurosong '08 on the 24th April, the deadline for entries is 6.00pm (CET) on the 9th November. The artists will be announced in December.

Swedish broadcaster SVT doesn't seem to have been too phased by their unexpected bad result in Helsinki and plans are already afoot for Melodifestivalen 2008. The deadline for submission of entries has been set for 25th September. It is thought that the system of regional semi finals culminating in a grand final in Stockholm will again be used this year.

After a little uncertainty the Israeli broadcaster IBA finally confirmed that there would be a partnership between commercial station Channel 2 and themselves to pick the country's entry to the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. This year's special version of Kdam will, for the first time, not be broadcast by IBA, but by Channel 2. The competitors will be from all five series of Channel 2's Idol style show, 'Kohav nolad' (A star is born). The show could take place as early as December.

DR has announced the dates for next year's Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. The two semi finals will take place on the 12th and 19th of January, and the final is set for the second day of February. Entries have to be submitted by the 10th of October.



The Finns have decided to make a few adjustments to their national final this year. For a start each act will now only sing one song each. There will be three semi finals and the second chance round will be held immediately before the final. Four songs will compete in each semi final, two progress to the final by public vote, the same will happen for the six songs that compete in the second chance round, which means that there will be a final with eight songs on the 1st of March. YLE have scheduled the semi finals for the 8th, 15th and 22nd.

ETV are the latest broadcaster to throw their hat into the ring and announce their national finals for 2008. Eurolaul will change again this year, there will be a final with 10 songs. Six of these spots will be kept for well-known estonian songwriters, many of them previous Eurovision composers for the country. The deadline for entries to fill the other four spots is the 26th of November. The final for these four spots will take place on the 1st December. All the songs will be introduced on the 26th January. The final will follow in February.

BNT has announecd the first of this years really complicated preselection proceedures. It will entail weekly shows during October, November and December. At the end of each month TV viewers will be able to vote through the top three songs. BNT will continue to accept entries till the end of the year. The songs from earlier in the year that failed to make it through and the newer entries will be examined by a selection panel and they will select nine more songs for the Semi final. EuroBGVision will start on the 7th of October. A jury will preside over the decision of which nine songs will pass into the final.