Eurovision Song Contest Previews
| Eurovision Song Contest Previews | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 'Tips For Le Top (1994) Liquid Eurovision (2002–03) |
| Genre | Preview show |
| Created by | EBU |
| Presented by |
Cliff Richard (1971–72) Terry Wogan (1973, 1975, 1977–84, 1994) David Vine (1974) Michael Aspel (1976) Dave Lee Travis (1985) David Hamilton (1986) Ray Moore (1987) Gloria Hunniford (1988, 1992–93) Ken Bruce (1989–91) Lorraine Kelly (2002–03) |
| Starring | Peter Snow (1994) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC1 (1971–1994) BBC Choice (2002) BBC Three (2003) |
| Original release | 21 March 1971 – 23 May 2003 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Eurovision Song Contest |
The Eurovision Song Contest Previews are annually broadcast TV shows showcasing the entries into the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. They were inaugurated in 1971 for the contest in Dublin, Ireland, and have been provided by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to all participating countries ever since.
For a period, the BBC were responsible for 'collecting' the preview videos and distributing them to the various participating countries. This has been carried out by the contest's host nation more recently. In recent years, the Nordic broadcasters (Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland) have co-produced preview shows for broadcast across their region.
All participants in the Eurovision Song Contest are required to submit a video of their entry to the EBU via the host broadcaster, to be distributed across the Eurovision network. From 1971 until the early 1990s, it was compulsory for all participants to broadcast the videos. Since the mid-1990s it has become optional. Broadcasters either submit a performance of the given song – usually taken from their local national final – or a music video of the entry, specifically filmed for the purpose. In 1971, the Belgian preview video featured singers Nicole & Hugo who were forced to withdraw days before the Eurovision final due to illness, being replaced by Jacques Raymond and Lily Castel.
Occasionally countries rely on funding from their government tourism budget to produce the video, leading to highly commercial offerings highlighting the given country's natural beauty. Often songs would vary from the version that would be heard in the contest itself; either through a change in language or a variance between the length of the recorded version and the permitted live version, or through a variance in orchestration and arrangement.
Early rules stated that the videos could not be broadcast in any less than two shows and the songs had to be broadcast in full. Later amendments allowed the videos to be broadcast incomplete, but that meant the length of each video still had to match. Generally speaking, the countries broadcast the shows in two parts, the entries divided as evenly as practicable between the two shows.
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