Around 6.3 million Polish viewers watched Michal Szpak in the grand final of Eurovision 2016. And now Poland’s TVP is keen to exploit the momentum and interest by staging a Melodifestivalen-like national selection for Eurovision.

As Wirtualnemedia reports, TVP’s board of directors wants to extend the life of Eurovision and give it a presence in the country beyond May. Just as Sweden’s Melodifestivalen “tours” through six cities every year, organisers want their own national selection to have regional qualifying rounds throughout the country and over many weeks or months.

They may also apply this traveling formula to the Opole Festival, one of the two most important music festivals in Poland (along with Sopot).

“Television Poland wants the Eurovision Song Contest and Festival in Opole, two great signs of music and entertainment, to be present on the air throughout the year,” says Wirtualnemedia.pl president Jacek Kurski. “We’ll do the regional qualifiers for Eurovision and Opole. I do not know whether this can be this fall.”

The proposed vision — which is not yet concrete or 100% confirmed — would see regional broadcasters take control of their local competitions, with eliminations held once a month.

Do you love the sound of TVP’s proposed initiative? Can Poland build a successful Melodifestivalen-like program? Let us know in the comments box below!

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#Justice4Margaret
#Justice4Margaret
7 years ago

I want a powerful classic like To nie ja from Poland! Considering they went “risky” with Szpak, I assume the Poles will not vote for basic songs.

Peter V
Peter V
7 years ago

It would be nice to see! The one problem with Poland: no matter how good the song is, jury will anyway hurt their results, like it was the last three years in a row.

karminowe.usta
karminowe.usta
7 years ago

I`m Polish but in my opinion this solution is a bad idea. Selections which are few stadiums is a good solution but regional selection can be disaster. I hope Poland would be represent great artist who has contract with music label because TVP doesn`t give a lot of money to promotion. Music labels help artist.

ESC Greece
ESC Greece
7 years ago

@Marco A

How amazing “Attention” was is one thing, how underrated it was is another.

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

And yes, I agree. TVP shouldn’t screw this up and choose hit maker Margaret.

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

@Marco A
I sure do 😉 thank you for your concern <3
P.S. Basically every modern pop song has used autotune in it.

Hello
Hello
7 years ago

Margaret is gaining international recognition so I doubt she would “lower” herself these days.

Marco A
Marco A
7 years ago

But Poland, keep one thing in mind. DO NOT MAKE A NEW EUROVIZIJOS. Remember Vilija.

Melodifestivalen is so good because SVT focus on songs’ quality.
Eurovizijos is not good because LTU don’t take into account what songs fit to what singers.

Please TVP, don’t screw it.

@ninasublatti @napaw Do you think a AutoTune user would do it well on ESC?

Marco A
Marco A
7 years ago

But Poland, keep one thing in mind. DO NOT MAKE A NEW EUROVIZIJOS. Remember Vilija.

@ninasublatti @napaw Do you think a AutoTune user would do it well on ESC?

Melodifestivalen is so good because SVT focus on songs’ quality.
Eurovizijos is not good because LTU don’t take into account what songs fit to what singers.

Please TVP, don’t screw it.

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

Just send Margaret if you want to win #basic

Napaw
Napaw
7 years ago

Seriously, after the legendary entry in 2014 with Donatan and Cleo the Polish community went crazy for Eurovision.

Mandy
Mandy
7 years ago

I believe Poland is showing more interest in Eurovision than the country’s never been before. After Michal’s success in Stockholm (and his increasing popularity winning two prizes at Opole) proves Poland is making all its efforts to bring ESC to Warsaw. There are too many good artists, lots of them who participate in music festivals there without prejudice: Sarsa, Ania Dabrowska and Marcelina are good examples of famous Polish singers that took part of Opole Festival recently. Sylwia Grzeszczak, Lady Pank and Enej could be interesting artists to see in a national final. Well done, Poland!

Axie
Axie
7 years ago

yessss keep margaret OUT #basic

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

So that means no Margaret! I doubt she would participate in a national final again.

Poland needs to do their national selection in an arena and not a small studio with less space.

Johnny
Johnny
7 years ago

Cool (me) down people!
This is TVP. It will be a mess with a unknown winner.

Brit_bit
Brit_bit
7 years ago

wow! this is very good news!!!!!!!!!!! I love it 🙂

Thiefo
7 years ago

Sounds good… with a potential of going terribly wrong. I’ll be optimistic and hope this turns out more like a Melodifestivalen, rather than Eurovizijos 😛

Having a very long process during months and months does not guarantee a great entry at the end is what I mean. Let’s just hope they focus on the quality of the entries, not just on having a very long show.

Mark
Mark
7 years ago

Poland is building itself towards a Eurovision win.

D
D
7 years ago

I think we might be able to see a Polish win in the new few years as they’ve been building so much momentum and are getting some of the best results they’ve ever gotten in the contest.

Ben Rafter
Ben Rafter
7 years ago

They have done well since 2014, so this doesn’t come as a huge shock to me!

Ariso Light
Ariso Light
7 years ago

Poland is going for a victory! Their country is now booming in Eurovision and if they return to Junior Eurovision, I’m sure they’ll boom there as well! 😀

Glorious
Glorious
7 years ago

@RMN

Poland seems very interested in Eurovision contests lately. Good for them 🙂

Still
Still
7 years ago

I can only fear about the quality of these regional stages. Our main, national TV cannot do something even half as well as SVT does.The local television networks are even worse.
But I can see 4 semifinals with 6-8 candidates each. And it’d be cool if they gave a chance to unsigned people, or simply just unrecognised beginners.

DenizNL
DenizNL
7 years ago

Would be cool! Their selection this year was awesome, so why not.

MMs
MMs
7 years ago

Poland wants it, Poland will have it! 😀

Considering the outstanding level of Poland’s selection last year, Poland is surely one to watch.