RTVE will air both semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 live, having previously opted not to broadcast both semi-finals.
The Head of Delegation for Spain has confirmed that RTVE will air both semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal live. The announcement comes after a number of years when RTVE has opted to broadcast only one of the two semi-finals, or to delay the broadcast of one of the semi-finals.
Spanish media reports that the shows will be broadcast in High Definition for the first time via the recently launched La 2 HD. Broadcasts of the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals regularly out perform average viewing figures for La 2.
Alfred and Amaia will be performing “Tu canción ” at this years Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. The song was selected as the Spanish entry for Lisbon last night and was written by Raul Gomez. The song won the selection process with 45% of the public televote, beating second place “Arde” by 13% of the vote.
This year’s Spanish representative is not the first to be chosen through ‘Operación Triunfo’; indeed, the show was used to select their participants from 2002 to 2004. All three of these artists – Rosa, Beth and Ramón – finished in the top 10 in their respective years. Soraya Arnelas, the runner-up of the fourth edition of the show, also represented Spain in 2009 with “La noche es para mí”. The show returned to Spanish screens in October, six years after the last edition was aired. It has proven very popular with audiences, with each gala attracting an average of 2 million spectators.
Source: ESC+Plus Espana
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Spain debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and has competed annually since. Spain has won the contest on two occasions the first being in 1968 and the second time in 1969. 1969 is the only year where more than one song has won the contest, the 1969 contest saw a four-way tie between Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Since 2000 Spain has only managed to finish in the top.10 on five occasions, the last time being in 2014 with Ruth Lorenzo. However, the country has finished 20th or below on nine occasions, the worst placement being 26th in 2017.
