Eurovision Song Contest is an annual television event in Europe. Member nations can send one song each, and each nation holds a televote (via 900 numbers or text messaging)--but you can't vote for your country's entrant. Points are award for the top ten votegetters in each country (12, 10, 8, 7,6,5,4,3,2 or 1, for 1st, 2nd, 3rd... etc place). At the end of the night, the country/song/performer with the most points wins.
One of the reasons it's so fascinating (to me) is it moves very, very quickly--24 songs 3 minutes or less each with 1 minute between and only one break between 12 and 13 (halfway). So the performances are done in just over 90 minutes, then another 30-40 as each country gives its votes live via satellite. It's quite normal that the winner is determined by the last televote reported: last year the winner won by 2 points, with 3rd place only another vote behind.
It is shown live over the net (around 3pm Seattle time) on 15 May, at www.eurovision.tv . I was in Vancouver last year when it was on, so watched it there.
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Date: 2004-04-15 05:18 pm (UTC)One of the reasons it's so fascinating (to me) is it moves very, very quickly--24 songs 3 minutes or less each with 1 minute between and only one break between 12 and 13 (halfway). So the performances are done in just over 90 minutes, then another 30-40 as each country gives its votes live via satellite. It's quite normal that the winner is determined by the last televote reported: last year the winner won by 2 points, with 3rd place only another vote behind.
It is shown live over the net (around 3pm Seattle time) on 15 May, at www.eurovision.tv . I was in Vancouver last year when it was on, so watched it there.