100 MILLION VIEWRS WILL WATCH “EUROVISION-2006”

ArmRadio.am
18.05.2006 16:46

The TV audience of “Eurovision-2006” will reach 100 million people,
head of the monitoring council of the contest Svante Stockselius said,
Greek media report.

“It is predicted that the final to be held on Saturday will be watched
by about 100 million viewers,” Stockselius said.

He noted that this year the contest will hit a record also with the
number of journalists. 2 000 thousand reporters arrived in Athens to
highlight the musical festival.

Member of the organizing committee expressed his appreciation for the
current system of voting, where the best song is elected, according
to phone calls and messages of the viewers.

“Up to 20 calls can be made from one telephone number. After this the
telephone line will turn off automatically,” Stockselius declared,
noting also that this system is still far from being ideal.

“This contest is completely democratic. There is no phenomenon like
political voting,” the organizer said.

However, the statistics of the “Eurovision” says opposite. According to
it, such states as Greece and Cyprus always give high points to each
other. At the same time Turkey, which invaded the North of Cyprus,
has given only one point to Cypriot singers during the whole history
of existence of the contest.

It is known also that the Scandinavian and Baltic states usually vote
for each other.

37 countries will participate in the 51st “Eurovision” song festival.