Tag Archive for bid

ESC 2013: Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Malmö

July 8, 2012 Eurovision, Sweden No comments

Only a few moments ago, the organizing Swedish broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 has confirmed their host city for the annual event; Malmö has won the bid over Stockholm to host the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.

According to an article, published on the official website of Eurovision.tv, ‘ the decision about the host city was open till the very last minute’ and a very difficult one to make according to Martin Österdahl, who recently has been announced as the Executive Producer of the 2013 contest.

Explaining the reason behind their choice: “We chose Malmö because there is a very good infrastructure and we have good experience of holding Melodifestivalen [the Swedish national selection] and the Eurovision Song Contest there,” he explains. “The choice of Malmö is based on an overall assessment of the environment in which we think is best for the format of the Eurovision Song Contest, both in terms of TV shows and on the preparations.”

The three shows, will find their home at the Malmö Arena where international superstars like Britney Spears have performed on their world tour, and has hosted several sport competitions including 2011 World Men’s Handball Championship and 2011–12 Svenska Superligan finals. For Eurovision fans the arena is best known for its appearances and host location during one of the semi final heats of Melodifestivalen since 2009. The arena itself is in many ways similar to the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland where the Eurovision Song Contest was held in 200.

The mayor of Malmö is happy to see the contest return to his city and has announced to be ‘extremely proud and happy today’. Malmö has organized the contest once in 1992, after Carola won in Italy the year before. The city of Malmö is t he third largest city in Sweden and one of the largest ones in Scandinavia (664,000 people).

It was previously reported that the city of Malmö had undertaken action to receive an early response by SVT in regards to hosting the contest as freezing hotel rooms for the period, was having a negative impact on local business.

(Source: SVT/Eurovision.tv)

ESC 2013: The Latest Eurovision News from Sweden

June 27, 2012 Daily News, Eurovision, Sweden No comments

The 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest has only finished a month ago, yet news about the forthcoming edition in Sweden is already on its. Here’s a short story of what’s been going on in Eurovision land so far:

SVT, the winning Swedish broadcaster has announced its production team for the contest which is currently scheduled for 14, 16 and 18 May. The broadcaster has opted for an experienced team with Martin Österdahl as executive producer of the show. He will be joined by SVT Malmö head Christel Tholse Willers, who’ll take up the role as head of relations, Johan Bernhagen, Head of Production and Christer Björkman, the current Swedish delegation leader and executive producer of Swedish selection format ‘Melodifestivalen’. He will function as the show’s producer.

The broadcaster has also confirmed the return of its highly successful formula ‘Melodifestivalen’ which will continue to be used as their selection method. SVT has announced a few changes for this year: The web joker system, will not be used any longer, instead the winner of radio show ‘Svensktoppen Nästa 2012′ will be able to take part with a different song. 15 songs will be taken from two websites, where Swedish and foreign composers can upload their material from 3-17 September onwards. Newcomers can do so in the Public contest, while the established producers upload their tracks to the Regular Contest. The remaining 16 songs are to be  written or composed on request by SVT. To read the rules in English click here.

As usual, the composers and song titles are expected to be announced around October/November, while the announcement of performers is expected in December. The actual heats are expected to commence on February 2nd. The different cities to host the heats have not been confirmed yet apart from its final which is taking place on March 9th 2013 in the newly Friends Arena nearby Stockholm.

Stockholm is currently also one of the cities who has bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest, originally alongside Malmö and Gothenburg. The latter however has withdrawn its application. Despite the rumors that the Eurovision Song Contest could take a Melodifestivalen approach and have its two semi finals and final in three different cities, Björkman confirmed that their would only be one host city as, as logistics would be incredibly difficult in such a short time span. The bid is expected to be won, by Stockholm which has two venues with interest: Globen and the new Friends Arena (pictured).

Sweden won the Eurovision Song Contest on May 26 with ‘Euphoria’ by Loreen. Watch her winning performance below:

(sources: Youtube, EscToday, EscExtra, Eurovision.tv, SVT.se)

 
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