Konstantin Kamenarov elected as BNT Director General

BNT have appointed Konstantin Kamenarov as their new General Director. The new General Director will now be able to decide up the (Junior) Eurovision future of his country.

Budget cuts

In his opening speech, Kamenarov gave a clear idea of where he wanted the national broadcaster to go. The financial difficulties the broadcaster is facing will not necessarily be solved by cutting the budget in several areas. He prefers to optimalise the structure of his company, both in terms of personnel and content.
The financial trouble are nothing new for BNT. A lack of budget meant the Bulgarians had to withdraw from Eurovision several times in the past years, such as 2014 and 2015.

The future of Eurovision

It is not yet clear what Kamenarov has planned for the Eurovision Song Contest or the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. In June, BNT’s Twitter announced that there would be uncertainty until the new body would be appointed. With the new body being in place soon, we can also expect a decision sooner or later.
Whether the decision will be in time for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is doubtful. Even if the decision is positive, it remains uncertain whether EBU will still accept applications as they revealed the participants for Junior Eurovision 2017 sooner than expected. BNT then also reacted by voicing their frustration over the early announcement, once again referring to the new appointment of the General Director.

Lowest fee

As we said before, finances are an issue for BNT. The Eurovision team have been effective with the money for Kristian Kostov’s second place in this year’s Eurovision, by spending a total of approximately €100,000 on the entire participation, including the EBU fee. In comparison, Ireland’s RTÉ spent over €330,000 on Brendan Murray’s Dying To Try.

The final breakdown has been finished. Approx. EUR 100 000 (fee included) has been the overall BG budget for ESC2017 which is record-low.

— BNT Eurovision 🇧🇬 (@bg_eurovision) June 10, 2017

We remain hopeful that Bulgaria will continue to participate in Eurovision events. A decision from Konstantin Kamenarov’s board is expected soon. Let us know what you are hoping for below or on Facebook! For now, enjoy Bulgaria’s best ever Eurovision result with Kristian Kostov’s Beautiful Mess.