After several weeks of rumors, “breaking news”, as well as some fake news and sensationalized reports, the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, has officially confirmed today that Israel would host the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The official planning of the event under KAN, the Israeli host broadcaster, kicked off today during the KAN visit to the EBU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Kan is a new body and we were given the gift of hosting the Eurovision after exactly a year of operations,” said Kan CEO Eldad Koblenz. The public broadcaster stressed that the planning is just beginning, and it expects another 7-10 working meetings to take place in Geneva as well as other additional gatherings.
Both EBU and Kan said that a wide range of issues were discussed but decisions on the host city, date and other details have yet to be decided. Four cities are most likely to bid for the honor of hosting the competition next year: Jerusalem, Haifa, Eilat, and fans favorite Tel Aviv. Many also speculate that semi finals will take place on 21st and 23rd of May with the Grand Final taking place on Saturday, May 25th.
