SBS reminds Aussies to vote Live & early for Eurovision

Graham Norton thinks Australia shouldn’t be appearing at Eurovision, but none of that is getting in the way of SBS excitement for our first-ever entry.

“It’s a nonsense,” Norton said. “The one thing the contest doesn’t need is another song”.

But SBS is getting the party frocks ready for next week, reminding Australians that in order to vote you have to get up early for the Semi-Finals and Finals, which all air at 5AM AEST.

Voting will open for just 15 minutes at the end of the final song (which probably puts it at around 8am Sunday for the Final). There is no voting during primetime replays. there is a limit of 20 votes per phone number -but you can’t vote for Guy Sebastian.

SBS Managing Director Mike Ebeid said: “SBS is delighted to have been able to secure the opportunity for Australians to vote in both Semi-finals and the Grand Final of the contest this year. As a multicultural society with so many community groups that share our passion for Eurovision we wanted to ensure all Australians can vote for their preferred countries. We’re thankful the event organisers accommodated this request.

“Whilst Australians aren’t able to vote for Guy Sebastian I’m excited that communities across Australia who have been watching Eurovision on SBS for over 30 years will be able to vote for their European favourites for the first time and influence the outcome of the competition. I hope they encourage their family and friends across Europe to vote for Australia!”

SBS will announce Australia’s Eurovision Spokesperson, who will deliver Australia’s votes during live broadcasts, next Monday.

TV Tonight is currently publishing Eurovision clips under the site’s Video section.

Semi Final One: 5am AEST Wednesday May 20
Semi Final Two: 5am AEST Friday May 22
Final: 5am AEST Sunday May 24

Viewers in countries of participating broadcasters, including Australia, are invited to vote for their favourite songs in the Eurovision Semi-finals and Grand Final by televoting, which makes up 50% of the total vote.

The other 50% of the vote is decided by a National Jury in each participating country. Each jury comprises of five respected local music/entertainment figures with extensive experience in the industry and, of course, a passion for all things Eurovision.* The Australian Jury is Amanda Pelman (Chair), Richard Wilkins, Danielle Spencer, Jake Stone and Ash London.

In each Semi-Final, 10 contestants are chosen to qualify for the Grand Final. Viewers in all countries taking part in a particular Semi-Final are invited to vote via the official app, telephone and/or SMS.

In the first Semi-Final, viewers and juries in Australia, Austria, France and Spain will vote. In the second Semi-Final, viewers and juries in Australia, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom will also vote.

All 40 participating countries including Australia vote in The Grand Final. The voting window opens after the last song has been performed, and ends 15 minutes later.

For Australians to vote they will need to tune in to the Live Eurovision broadcasts on Wednesday May 20, Friday May 22, and Sunday May 24 at 5am AEST on SBS ONE. To vote they will need to text or call the numbers that appear on screen during the live broadcast. There is a limit of 20 votes per phone number.

 

In each country, the televoting and jury voting result in two ranked lists of all songs; The EBU’s televoting partner Digame will determine the national result by merging these two ranked lists, and will award 12 points to the country with the best rank, then 10 points to country with the second-best combined rank, and so on. The country ranked 10th in the combined ranking receives 1 point.

For more information about the Eurovision voting process please visit:
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/vienna-2015/about/voting

Digame are the European International Eurovision affiliated telco who developed the Eurovision voting platform, and MNet are the Australian mobile network partners.

Based on the combined full ranking of all songs in the televoting and jury voting, each country will distribute 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points. The qualified countries will be announced at the end of each Semi-Final, and the winner of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest at the end of the Grand Final.

Jury members and public voters can’t vote for their own countries, but there are plenty of other brilliant acts alongside our beloved Guy Sebastian.

Will the jurors and the Australian public embrace Armenia’s supergroup (including Australian Mary-Jean O’Doherty, an international coloratura soprano of Armenian ancestry)? Will Slovenia’s air violin playing singer Maraaya cause division in the votes? Or will reigning champs Austria get a unanimous thumbs up with their slick rock entry, The Makemakes?

SBS will broadcast both semi-finals and the Grand Final live on Wednesday May 20, Friday May 22 and Sunday morning May 24 from 5am.

Australians will be able to vote in the contest in the early broadcast and then join in the conversation using the hashtag #sbseurovision during the interactive evening prime-time broadcasts with tweets and party pictures on screen. The prime time broadcast will feature artist interviews, and behind the scenes clips with SBS Eurovision hosts Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang.

Both semi-finals will be shown in full on SBS ONE on Friday May 22 and Saturday May 23 from 7:30pm. The Grand Final featuring multi-talented singer and ARIA Award winner Guy Sebastian will screen on Sunday May 24 from 7:30pm.

* The Eurovision Jury was selected by SBS and meet the criteria set out by the EBU.