The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 is still a few months off – but already snippets of news are coming in about what to expect from this year’s biggest singing competition.
We’ve rounded up all the information about this year’s contestants, including who will be competing for the UK.
We’ve also put together a guide to watching the Eurovision Song Contest online, so when the time rolls around you’ll be able to follow it even if you haven’t got access to a TV screen or are watching from abroad.
How to watch the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK
Eurovision 2020, which will represent the 65th year of the competition, is being held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The Semi-finals will be on 12 and 14 May, with the Grand Final on 16 May. As with most previous shows, it will likely be shown from on BBC One in the UK – with the usual sassy commentary from Graham Norton.
You’ll also be able to watch the show live on the BBC One website, or on iPlayer shortly after broadcast online or on the BBC iPlayer app on your tablet or smartphone.
How to watch the Eurovision Song Contest from the US
If you’re in the US things are a little trickier. In 2018 cable channel Logo broadcast the show, but it’s decided not to renew the rights for 2019, once again leaving the show without an American home.
With that in mind, the best option to watch Eurovision in the US is to install a VPN, which you can use to watch the whole thing online on the BBC website. Our usual VPN recommendation is NordVPN, which has a good balance of price, reliability, and features, but check out our full guide to the best VPN for streaming if you want to consider other options.
How to vote in the Eurovision Song Contest
If the show uses the same system as last year, the easiest way to vote for your favourite act in the Eurovision Song Contest is by downloading the app onto your smartphone or tablet. It’s available from Google Play, the iOS App Store and the Windows Store, and it’s free to download.
Once you’ve got the app, you’ll be able to find out more about the participants from the countries taking part, and you’ll also be able to find out the latest Eurovision news.
But more importantly, you can cast your vote using the app simply by clicking on the vote button and choosing your favourite. You can vote up to 20 times, but you cannot vote for the country you are voting from.
It’s worth noting that you can only vote if you’re in one of the 41 participating countries – so US fans can only observe, we’re afraid.
Eurovision Song Contest 2020 contestants
There are 41 countries participating in Eurovision 2020, but only 26 will make it through to the Grand Final. As The Netherlands are hosting, they automatically get a slot. The Big-5 countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom) also all automatically qualify, as is tradition. The remaining twenty will be selected from the semi-finals – with the top ten from each show winning a slot.
Several countries have declared their acts, but lots are still in the decision-making process. This includes the UK, who will be collaborating with music company BMG to internally select the representative – ditching the UK heats as voted for by the public that happened last year.
It’s no wonder – considering that the UK act selected by the popular vote last year finished last overall, so things need to be shaken up a bit. You can view the UK’s entry from 2019 below.
Via Techadvisor