The Eurovision 2008 Song Contest, which will be hosted in Belgrade, Serbia this year, is trying to even the playing field over past competitions. While the finals may start on May 20, 2008, the semi-finals have the fans already talking.

In past Eurovision contests, politics, international relations, neighborliness and dispersed populations all have played a role in slanting the votes in toward or against songs from differing nations. For instance, Finland has tended to give less votes to other Scandinavian nations while Iceland has tended to give more.

In order to even the playing field among nations, the Eurovision 2008 committee has decided upon a draw, which was announced today. This draw is more inclusive than in the past as half of the semi-finalists will move on as opposed to 2007, where only 36-percent were allowed forward.

Even though there has been biased in voting in the past, the Eurovision Song Contest winner has always needed votes from all countries to succeed. The Eurovision 2008 Song Contest will be no different and there are 43 countries participating this year.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the longest running television shows in history. Beginning in 1956 in Switzerland by the European Broadcasting Union, the Eurovision Song Contest was started as a way to unify war-torn Europe with international cooperation.

Eurovision 2008 Song Contest will be American Idol on steroids. While American Idol may pull in 30 million viewers on a good week, Eurovision 2008 is estimated to pull in somewhere between 100 million and 600 million viewers worldwide.

Filed under: Competitions