Viacom-owned Logo TV, a channel dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community, will be broadcasting the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The announcement comes just days after Jan Ola Sand announced discussions to bring an American version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Viacom will be responsible for the show that will bring together artists from the 50 states.
According to Eurovision Spain, Ola Sand said the “original Eurovision format will continue to be broadcast in Australia, China, New Zealand and the United States”.
Other channels in North America that had broadcast the show in the past include Canada’s Out TV (2015 and 2016) and Greenland’s NRK (2011 and 2017). The international feed of Portugal’s RTP and Spain’s RTVE, available in North America, usually broadcast the final. However, only a total of 64,000 people reportedly watched last year’s final on Logo TV.
Commentators are back
Logo TV also announced that the 2017 commentators, Michelle Visage and Ross Matthews are back. Visage and Matthews are famous for their appearances in RuPaul’s Drag Race. They will be providing commentary for the final on May 12, 2018.
U.S.A. at Eurovision
The United States has never participated at Eurovision, logically. However, plenty of American singers and songwriters have competed and even won in the past. Recent winners include Julie Frost, who wrote Satellite for Lena in 2010 and lyricist Charlie Mason, who was behind Rise Like A Phoenix.
In terms of winners, the most notable and recent is Katrina Leskanich. The lead singer of Katrina & The Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1997 with Love Shine A Light, representing the United Kingdom.
The most recent American-linked participant was Albania’s Lindita in 2017. Lindita had and has been living in the United States to pursue a career there.
Logo TV has been broadcasting the contest’s final since 2016. Prior to that, American fans were able to watch the whole contest via the defunct EBU’s WebTV. YouTube’s Eurovision shows are currently blocked in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and South Korea.
Criticism has not been missing for the blocking of performance videos in said countries. Especially American fans often show their anger at the fact that they cannot watch performances on YouTube anymore.
What do you think? Should Logo TV keep on broadcasting the contest in the U.S.? Or would another channel be more suitable? And how about those commentators? Let us know in the comment section below or on Facebook!
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