NATIONAL FINAL FOR ARMENIA
esctoday.com, Netherlands
Oct 25 2006
Officials at ARMTV, the national broadcaster of Armenia, have told
esctoday.com that they plan to hold a national final to select their
Eurovision Song Contest entry for 2007. The process will consist
of two semifinals and a national final. They are now in the final
process of deciding the rules and the format, and an announcement
will be made next week.
Armenia will be competing at the Eurovision Song Contest for the second
time in 2007 after a successful debut this year. They finished sixth
in the semifinal and eighth in the final in Athens with Without your
love sung by Andre.
Speaking to esctoday.com this morning, ARMTV said "We hope to hold
a national final this time. We are finalising the plans now and we
will announce the details next week. We hope to have a three phase
selection, with two semifinals and a final. This is our second time
at the competition and interest will be higher now. We really want
to make a national final with information about the lives of the
participants. We want to do this for the viewers, to get them involved
in selecting their song".
If the plans go ahead, the selection will take place in December. It
is likely that this year’s first Eurovision Song Contest entry to be
selected will be from Armenia, and not as expected, from Albania.
The shows will not be broadcast on the Internet due to technological
issues. We were told "We want all shows to be broadcast live, but
they will not be available on the Internet. We hope that maybe for
2008 it will be possible".
Under current rules, Armenia are assured of a place in the final of
the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 after finishing in sixth place
in Athens.