Destination Eurovision 2019 to start on January 12th

Christmas came earlier for French Eurofans, as France 2 revealed the date of the first Destination Eurovision semi-final this morning : January 12th. But what will happen

A January selection

Until today, the only thing we knew about Destination Eurovision was that it would be broadcast on January. France 2 has now confirmed the date and time of the first semi-final : Saturday, January 12th at 9pm CET.

While we don’t officially know when the rest of the show will take place, it is only natural to assume the selection will span on three weeks, last last year. As such, the second semi-final would take place on January 19th, and the final on January 26th. All three shows will be live broadcast, unlike last year, when the semi-finals had been pre-recorded.

The semi-final allocation is still unknown (who will compete in which semi-final), but more news should come in early January, so stay tuned.

What will happen?

During each semi-final, nine songs will compete for four spots in the final. Like last year, the artists will sing a cover before singing their entry. There will also be postcards, which have been recorded over the last few weeks. The expert panel (André Manoukian, Vitaa and Christophe Willem) will give their opinion after each performance.

Since the shows will be live, viewers at home will be able to vote for their favourite entry. The televote will be combined to the votes of an international jury : in each semi-final, there will be five countries voting, but they will be different in each semi-final. Like last year, each country will be represented by only one juror. The exact scoring system has not yet been revealed (how many points each juror will give), but it is very likely that the televote will be counted in the Melodifestivalen style, like last year (1% of the televote gives an entry 1% of available points).

In the final, the eight qualifiers will compete for the Eurovision spot. The voting system should be similar to the one used in semi-finals, except that this time there will be ten international jurors, from ten countries, different from the ten countries that voted in the semi-finals.

=> Don’t forget to read our guide of all Destination Eurovision artists and songwriters! The snippets and full song links are regularly updated. <=

What do you think? Will you watch the show(s)? Who is your favorite to win? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!