In the past couple of days there has been confusion over whether Stockholm had actually withdrawn from host bidding. They haven't yet, but the Swedish papers thought so.
Actually it was Malmö where there were suggestions in the media that they would not be bidding on the 2016 contest. One of the ESC fan sites contacted Malmö Arena and they said that they would be bidding.
The biggest influence on what is available will likely be how long the venue is out of service prior to the event. From what I recall the Wiener Stadthalle was handed over to the production team around 6/7 weeks prior to the final. That is a long time for a revenue generating facility to lie empty, particularly somewhere the size of Friends Arena or Tele 2.
SVT are not wasting any time though, they started set design ideas before Sweden had won this year. Christer Bjorkman has spoken of the need to cut down on the cost of 2013. That contest cost around $18.5 million, compared with $52.3 million in Copenhagen and a staggering $65 million in Baku. Therefore I still think it’s likely that we’ll have a small scale contest. The Malmö contest is beloved by fans and critics alike, a lower budget didn’t negatively impact on that show.
No, because countries such as Russia and Israel take part, and they've never been part of the EU.
Don't forget that Australia also took part this year
!
(Sigh)
The UK's entry into Eurovision is not based on any nationalistic membership of the EU - moreover the BBC's ongoing membership of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) which has nothing to do with any political organisation based in Brussels or Strasbourg. A no vote in 2017 will still mean we'll send a lousy song to the 2018 contest for the continent to ignore.
The only criterion for being able to enter the Eurovision Song Contest is I think to be a full member of the EBU. Hence why several countries not in the EU, or geographically in Europe have entered (some for many years). Morocco even entered once and Tunisia (I think) was going to as well. Affiliate members are not entitled to enter, so that rules out the United States among others, though does give those broadcasters some access to EBU events, facilities and so on.
As ITV, Channel 4 and S4C are also full members, could they send a rival song to the BBC's if they were mad enough to want to?
Only one broadcaster per country can participate in the ESC.
Though it is possible for broadcasters to share the contest - as Pro7 (or was it Sat1) and Das Erste/ARD did for a couple of years. Das Erste got the final, but the commercial broadcaster got the semifinal and I think ran the pre-selection show?
Here's a question (apologies if it's already been covered)
What happens if Britain agrees to leave the EU? Will we not be able to enter Eurovision anymore?
Err... Nothing.
Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia etc. aren't in the EU either...
The EBU and entry into the Eurovision Song Contest is nothing to do with the EU. Strictly speaking (ignoring the Australia fudge this year) the only requirements are that you are a member of the EBU from within the "European Broadcasting Area" (which is a defined region - not massively related to the political region known as Europe)
As ITV, Channel 4 and S4C are also full members, could they send a rival song to the BBC's if they were mad enough to want to?
Only one broadcaster per country can participate in the ESC.
What about Scotland and Wales. Aren't England, Scotland and Wales all seperate countries but part of the UK? If instead of having a UK entry we had an England, Scotland and Wales (+NI?) entries wouldn't that probably increase the chance one of them would win?