Theoretically Which Countries Can We Expect To Appear In Eurovision?

Eurovision 2022 season finally feels like it is starting now that Belgium has announced Jérémie Makiese as their Eurovision representative, this being even before we know the host city. However, countries have been declaring their participation (or lack thereof) in the contest for a while now and speculation as to who is competing is as chaotic as always. But before we predict which artists may do Eurovision in the coming or future editions, let’s just revisit which broadcasters can at least in theory send in an entry to participate in Eurovision at all.

The Brief Answer: Potential Eurovision Participants Infographic

Eligible To Participate And Have Done So	Eligible To Participate But Have Never Done So	Associate Members Eligible To Participate On Invitation Only	Theoretically Eligible Countries In European Broadcasting Area Who Lack A Member Broadcaster	Ineligible With Neither Full Or Associate Status But Have Competed In Other Eurovision Contests
Albania	Algeria	Australia	Belarus	Kosovo
Andorra	Egypt	Bangladesh	Iraq
Armenia	Jordan	Brazil	Liechtenstein
Austria	Lebanon	Canada	Saudi Arabia
Azerbaijan	Libya	Chile
Belgium	Tunisia	China
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Vatican City	Cuba
Bulgaria		Hong Kong
Croatia		Iran
Cyprus		Japan
Czechia		Kazakhstan
Denmark		Malaysia
Estonia		Mauritius
Finland		New Zealand
France		Oman
Georgia		South Africa
Germany		South Korea
Greece		United States of America
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Morocco
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom

The Longer Answer:

Which Countries Can Participate In Eurovision?

With everyone from Iceland to Australia seemingly able to compete in the contest, the first challenge is to define what exactly is meant by “Euro”. Establishing borders to the continent of Europe or even working out which countries fall into a shared “European identity” would be a highly contentious and impossible problem for the show’s organisers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to determine. With the notion of Europe and the cultural significance of a “Eurovision” varying from place to place and person to person, how exactly can we determine Europe?

Thankfully, this is not completely necessary for Eurovision itself as having gained EBU membership in itself is enough for participation. In this sense the “Euro” stands more for a designated broadcasting region than a distinct continent or political bloc. Since 2015, broadcasters without EBU membership have also been allowed to compete under invitation from the EBU (the most notable of these of course being Australia).

Which Countries Are Eligible For EBU Membership?

So how do we determine who falls into a European broadcasting zone in a fair way which will minimise disputes from countries who believe they should be included? The EBU’s strategy seems to be to have a fairly wide definition of both Europe and Asia by using both the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) broadcasting zonations and also allowing countries with political associations with Europe (Council of Europe members) who may otherwise be excluded from EBU membership.

Membership is for broadcasting organizations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area, as defined by the International Telecommunication Union, or are members of the Council of Europe.

European Broadcasting Union (via https://www.ebu.ch/about/members?type=active)

The ITU then has the issue of determining which zone classifies as Europe for their purposes. To do this they use lines of latitude and longitude as the defining points to split Europe away from Asia and Africa (30° N & 40° E). This point lands in Southern Iraq. As a general rule of thumb, countries which at least partially fall North West of these boundary lines are likely eligible to have their broadcasters join the European Broadcasting Union.

If you are looking for a bit more precision in how it is determined whether or not a country is far enough within the boundaries to be classified as actually in the European Broadcasting Area, then the precise definition from the ITU is laid out here:

“The ‘European Broadcasting Area’ is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East of Greenwich and on the south by the parallel 30° North so as to include the northern part of Saudi Arabia and that part of those countries bordering the Mediterranean within these limits. In addition, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and those parts of the territories of Iraq, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey and Ukraine lying outside the above limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area.”

International Telecommunications Union (via https://web.archive.org/web/20130816092114/http://sma.gov.jm/sites/default/files/publication_files/ITU-R_Radio_Regulations_2012_%202015_%20Article_5_Table%20of%20Frequencies.pdf)

Which Broadcasters Are Eligible To Compete In These Countries?

Being within the European Broadcasting Area or Council of Europe does not automatically mean a country will have a broadcaster who is eligible to compete in Eurovision. In order to gain membership to the EBU a number of criteria must be met. These include strict rules on the coverage of a variety of programmes including sport, news, children’s broadcasting, drama etc. Similarly broadcasters must also try to cater for all demographics in their own specific target country. There are also rules surrounding the logistical reach of the broadcaster within their country, this being through a requirement to be accessible to “virtually all” of the households in their country (or the region of said country which speaks the language being broadcast).

On top of this selection, broadcasters are held to a variety of other rules and must pay a membership fee. However, maybe most notably it is also part of the contract to abide by the EBUs values on press freedoms which states the need of broadcasters to be

“safeguarding and improving freedom of expression and information”

Statutes of the European Broadcasting Union December 2020 (via https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/ebu/files/About/Governance/Statutes_EN.pdf)

As a result of this, former Eurovision entrant and Belarus’ sole EBU broadcaster, The National State TV and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (BTRC) was expelled from the EBU. Consequently Belarus is as of time of writing no longer eligible to compete in Eurovision.

Since 2015, the EBU has opened up the contest to associate members upon invitation. This means that the list of potential theoretical Eurovision broadcasters contains many based in countries which have very little geographical proximity to Europe. Who knows maybe the EBU will open up the door to more of them at another contest milestone?

Full List Of EBU Broadcasters By Country

So who has the right links to the European Broadcasting Union to make a Eurovision participation possible, albeit if in many cases not all that probable? These are the countries and their broadcasters you may want to add to your predicitions sheet! Source: https://www.ebu.ch/about/members

Country/Territory	Broadcaster	Membership Status	(Co)Lead Eurovision 2021 Participation?
Albania	Radio Televizioni Shqiptar	Full	Yes
Algeria	Etablissement Public de Radiodiffusion Sonore	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Algeria	Etablissement Public de Télévision Algérienne	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Algeria	Télédiffusion d’Algérie	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Andorra	Ràdio i Televisió d’Andorra, S.A.	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Armenia	Public Radio of Armenia	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Armenia	Public Television Company of Armenia	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Australia	Australian Broadcasting Corporation	Associate	No
Australia	Free TV Australia	Associate	No
Australia	Special Broadcasting Service Corp.	Associate	Yes
Austria	Österreichischer Rundfunk	Full	Yes
Azerbaijan	Ictimai	Full	Yes
Bangladesh	Bangladesh Television	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Belgium	Radio-Télévision Belge de la Communauté française	Full	No
Belgium	Vlaamse Radio en Televisieomroep	Full	Yes
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Brazil	Rádio Cultura (Fundação Padre Anchieta)	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Bulgaria	Balgarska Nationalna Televizija	Full	Yes
Bulgaria	Balgarsko Nationalno Radio	Full	No
Canada	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation / Socité Radio-Canada English Networks	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Chile	Corporacion de Televisión de la Universidad Católica de Chile (Canal 13)	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
China	China Media Group	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
China	Shanghai Media Group	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Croatia	Hrvatska Radiotelevizija	Full	Yes
Cuba	Instituto Cubano de Radio y Televisión	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Cyprus	Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation	Full	Yes
Czechia	Cesky Rozhlas	Full	No
Czechia	Ceská Televize	Full	Yes
Denmark	Danmarks Radio	Full	Yes
Denmark	TV 2 DANMARK	Full	No
Egypt	National Media Authority	Full	No
Estonia	Eesti Rahvusringhääling	Full	Yes
Finland	Oy Yleisradio Ab	Full	Yes
France	Europe 1	Full	No
France	France Médias Monde	Full	No
France	France Télévisions	Full	Yes
France	Radio France	Full	No
France	ARTE	Approved Participant	No
France	Euronews	Approved Participant	No
France	TV5 Monde	Approved Participant	No
Georgia	Public Broadcaster	Full	Yes
Georgia	Rustavi 2	Associate	No
Georgia	TEME – Teleimedi	Associate	No
Germany	ARD	Full	Yes
Germany	Bayerischer Rundfunk	Full	No
Germany	Deutsche Welle	Full	No
Germany	Deutschlandradio	Full	No
Germany	Hessischer Rundfunk	Full	No
Germany	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk	Full	No
Germany	Norddeutscher Rundfunk	Full	Yes
Germany	Radio Bremen	Full	No
Germany	Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg	Full	No
Germany	Saarländischer Rundfunk	Full	No
Germany	Südwestrundfunk	Full	No
Germany	Westdeutscher Rundfunk	Full	No
Germany	ZDF	Full	No
Greece	Elliniki Radiophonia-Tileorassi SA	Full	Yes
Hong Kong	Radio Television Hong Kong	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Hungary	Duna Media Service Provider	Full	No
Hungary	Media Support and Asset Management Fund	Full	No
Iceland	Ríkisútvarpid	Full	Yes
Iran	Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Ireland	Raidió Teilifís Éireann	Full	Yes
Ireland	TG4	Full	No
Israel	Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation	Full	Yes
Italy	Radiotelevisione Italiana	Full	Yes
Japan	Nippon Hoso Kyokai	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Japan	TBS Television Inc.	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Jordan	Jordan Radio and Television Corporation	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Kazakhstan	Khabar Agency	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Latvia	Latvijas Radio	Full	No
Latvia	Latvijas Televizija	Full	Yes
Lebanon	Télé-Liban	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Libya	Libya National Channel	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Lithuania	Lietuvos Radijas ir Televizija	Full	Yes
Luxembourg	CLT-UFA	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Luxembourg	Établissement de Radiodiffusion Socioculturelle du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Malaysia	Radio Television Malaysia	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Malta	Public Broadcasting Services Ltd	Full	Yes
Mauritius	Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Moldova	Teleradio-Moldova	Full	Yes
Monaco	Monaco Media Diffusion	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Monaco	Radio Monte-Carlo	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Monaco	Télé Monte-Carlo	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Montenegro	Radio i Televizija Crne Gore	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Morocco	Société Nationale de Radio Télévision	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Netherlands	AVROTROS	Full	Yes
Netherlands	KRO-NCRV	Full	No
Netherlands	NTR	Full	No
Netherlands	Nederlandse Omroep Stichting	Full	No
Netherlands	Nederlandse Publieke Omroep	Full	No
Netherlands	Omroep MAX	Full	No
Netherlands	Omroepvereniging BNN-VARA	Full	No
Netherlands	Omroepvereniging VPRO	Full	No
Netherlands	Vereniging De Evangelische Omroep	Full	No
New Zealand	Radio New Zealand	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
New Zealand	Television New Zealand Ltd	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
North Macedonia	MKRTV	Full	Yes
North Macedonia	JP Makedonska Radiodifuzija	Approved Participant	No
Norway	Norsk rikskringkasting	Full	Yes
Norway	TV 2 AS	Full	No
Oman	Public Authority for Radio and TV	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Poland	Polskie Radio SA	Full	No
Poland	Telewizja Polska SA	Full	Yes
Portugal	Rádio e Televisão de Portugal	Full	Yes
Romania	Societatea Româna de Radiodifuziune	Full	No
Romania	Societatea Româna de Televiziune	Full	Yes
Russia	Channel One Russia	Full	Yes
Russia	Radio Mayak	Full	No
Russia	Radio Orpheus	Full	No
Russia	Rossijskoe Teleradio	Full	No
Russia	Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Network	Approved Participant	No
San Marino	San Marino RTV	Full	Yes
Serbia	Radiotelevizija Srbije	Full	Yes
Serbia	Radio-Television of Vojvodina	Approved Participant	No
Slovakia	Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Slovenia	Radiotelevizija Slovenija	Full	Yes
South Africa	South African Broadcasting Corporation	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
South Korea	Korean Broadcasting System	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Spain	Radiotelevisión Española	Full	Yes
Spain (Catalonia)	Catalunya Música	Approved Participant	No
Spain	Cellnex Telecom, S.A..	Approved Participant	No
Sweden	Sveriges Radio Ab	Full	No
Sweden	Sveriges Television Ab	Full	Yes
Sweden	Swedish Educational Broadcasting Company	Full	No
Switzerland	SRG SSR	Full	Yes
Syria	Organisme de la Radio-Télévision Arabe Syrienne	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Tunisia	Radio tunisienne	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Tunisia	Télévision tunisienne	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Turkey	Türkiye Radyo-Televizyon Kurumu	Full	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
Ukraine	Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine	Full	Yes
United Kingdom	British Broadcasting Corporation	Full	Yes
United Kingdom (Wales)	Sianel 4 Cymru	Full	No
United Kingdom (Scotland)	UK STV	Full	No
United Kingdom	United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting	Full	No
United States of America	American Public Media	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
United States of America	CBS Corporation	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
United States of America	Capital Cities / American Broadcasting Companies Inc.	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
United States of America	National Broadcasting Company Inc	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
United States of America	National Public Radio	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate
United States of America	WFMT Radio Network	Associate	Country/Territory Did Not Participate

What About Kosovo’s Broadcaster?

So after all that you may be wondering how Kosovo a country with seemingly no current broadcaster linked to the EBU has been able to be participate in a Eurovision contest, namely Eurovision Young Dancers 2011. Well, Kosovo does have a broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) but they are not a member of the EBU nor are they associated with the union. This doesn’t mean they don’t have links to the EBU however, as the EBU played a major role in setting up this broadcaster for the region. Due to the ongoing political situation regarding Kosovo’s status and whether or not it should be considered a country, it seems unlikely we will see them at Eurovision any time soon however. In order to compete they would require the recognition to be on either the Council of Europe or gain ITU membership.

So Hopefully That’s Comprehensive Enough!

Hopefully, that answers any burning questions you have about who can and cannot compete in Eurovision. Of course, beyond the rules of the contest broadcasting laws, financial restrictions and a broadcaster’s willingness to participate at all, all complicate the picture further!

Who do you want or expect to make an appearance at Eurovision next year or further down the line? Be sure to let me know, either by commenting here or on our social media (it would be super awesome if you followed us there)! Thank you for taking the time to read this far, hopefully that means you’ve enjoyed this and if so, you can always share the article! Thank you folks and see you around soon (hopefully)!