The European Broadcasting Union has confirmed to NRK that the fee broadcasters pay to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will not be increasing.
Following the withdrawal of Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain from the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 due to the inclusion of Israel, the EBU has confirmed that the fee broadcasters must pay to compete will not increase. In a statement to the Norwegian broadcaster NRK, they explained:
“Preliminary fees were communicated to interested member broadcasters in September. We can confirm that no broadcaster will pay more to participate in next year’s competition as a result of countries withdrawing,”
“While a small number of member broadcasters may not join us in 2026, we expect around 35 broadcasters to participate,”
The participation fee must be paid by each of the participating broadcasters and is ranges from the low tens of thousands of Euros up to hundreds of thousands of Euros for the largest broadcasters and countries. The participation fee is just part of what a broadcaster will budget for competing in Eurovision; other costs will include travel, accommodation, staging and pyrotechnics, plus fees for the broadcast of the contest and commentary facilities in the venue.
Eurovision 2026
As announced by the EBU in August, the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will be held in Vienna following JJ’s victory for Austria with “Wasted Love” in Basel. Both semi-finals are scheduled for May 12 and 14, while the Grand Final will take place on May 16. The contest will be hosted at the Wiener Stadthalle, the same venue used in 2015, which can accommodate up to 16,000 spectators.
Source: EBU | Source: NRK
