ESC

The deadline for submitting entries to RTÉ for Eurosong 2010, the Irish selection procedure, closed on February 1. The five-man jury, led by Linda Martin, are believed to have selected the lucky six finalists for the show on March 5.

Macedonia, who compete in the contest as FYR Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) has officially announced that it will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, Norway. The country will chose its winner on Skopje Fest in February, which will consist of two semi-finals and a final, organised by MKRTV

James Hyland, one of the founders of Irish digital music channel Bubble hits, has made public his intention to form a four piece band for the Irish national selection, Eurosong 2009, due to be held on February 20th.

Ronan Keating's entry for the 2009 Danish Eurovision Song Contest preselection, Believe Again, was written over a week in Dublin with the two Danes Lars Halvor Jensen and Martin M Larsson.

The first openly gay singer in Russia has announced that he intends to try to represent his country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Boris Moiseyev even has a song in mind for his Eurovision bid.

The new official Eurovision site is now online. It has been slimmed down with lighter emphasis on the visiual element and more of a focus on the content.

Continuing the trend that has been seen in many countries already the viewing figures in Latvia for the 2008 contest took quite a tumble.  Last year nearly 40% of Latvians over the age of 4 watched the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.  This year just over 30% tuned in for the grand final.

It's well over a year now since Marija Serifovic finished her whirlwind tour of six participating Eurovision countries.  This year the tour is back and it's Dima's turn.  The tour has been slightly extended for 2008 with the total number of stops increasing to eight.