Eurovision Asia has long been talked about since its initial plans to launch in late 2018. And while news of the Asian iteration of the famed contest have since waned, producer Paul Clarke has made it clear that there’s still discussions and investors interested in its debut.
Wiwibloggs recently met with Clarke, who is Australia’s Head of Delegation at Eurovision and a producer with Blink TV – the team in charge of launching Eurovision Asia.
He recently headed up Australia’s inaugural national selection Eurovision: Australia Decides – with the televised national final met with much fanfare by both Australian and international audiences, and dubbed by many as the Melodifestivalen of the south.
Speaking exclusively with wiwibloggs, Clarke said there’s still interest in Asia, and the next steps for the contest will be decided in due course:
“There’s a lot discussions and a lot of potential investors in Asia. But I think where I made a mistake in Asia, is that I talked to people too early about it. And (at the same time) I talked about a national final – people said “Yeah… yeah… this is the guy who keeps promising.”
So well just go one step at a time and I’m really happy where our national final is, and well see where our next steps are.”
It’s not the first time plans for the contest have stalled, with former SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid stating back in October last year that organising the Asian contest is proving “too geo-politically difficult”.
While Kazakhstan was in rumoured early discussions to participate, talks between China, South Korea and Japan revealed a series of obstacles, including political tensions between the region’s three big music markets. Chinese law prohibits the broadcast or streaming of South Korean pop music and entertainment. Last year’s banning of Chinese broadcaster Mango TV from broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest also no doubt complicates matters.
And while rumoured swirled in October last year that Eurovision Asia was locked in for December 2019 on the Gold Coast, nothing is confirmed as of yet. No doubt Australia Decides was a good stepping stone to launching the Asian contest, with production of the national final rivalling the quality of the Eurovision Song Contest itself.
Are you still interested in a Eurovision Asia debut? Would you like to see the contest go ahead? Let us know in the comments below!
I have to say mango TV is the worst. I am from China. Guess what it even blur Gaga’s face during the Oscars and delete all her performances!!! It is insane and I don’t think it is appropriate to let Mango TV broadcast Eurovision in China again. Maybe other broadcasters. As a Chinese Eurovision fan, I just hope that politics will not affect anything about art and music!!!
Off-topic: Wiwibloggs is constantly deleting one simple and harmless question in the comment section of the article on Saara Aalto, which is not offensive nor contains inapropriate language. Can you stop that, please?
i can see why eurovision asia is hard to organize comsiderin the deep cultural differences in the continent…. i mean we struggle to keep russia n ukraine or armenia n azerbaijan together
Not necessarily. At the moment, Asia’s Got Talent just premiered its third season and Asia’s Next Top Model wrapped its sixth season last year. We’re more than well-prepared with having another pan-regional competition despite tensions with neighboring countries.
A hurdle though is if we have the infrastructure to support a live televote scheme. The last time we had that was when we had an “Asian Idol” one-off competition among winners of the most recent winners of the franchise in Asia at the time, but Asia’s Got Talent showed that that technical hurdle can be overcome. 🙂
That is where Australia belongs to
smh
Hi bogan
You wish! Any sensible person from Asian countries regard Australia as westerners not as Asians. I don’t understand why you Europeans are still so pissed when they have been in Eurovision for almost 5 years. It’s getting boring now.
Their foreign and cultural politics is all about Asia-Pacific. Israel is much more European than Australia in its attitude.
Judging by what? Experience? Australia is a former British colony, is still apart of the Commonwealth. The head of their parliament is the Queen of the UK, and the vast majority has European family abroad.
It’s understandable tho – you think there’s politics in Europe? Lmao Asia is a big mess, not even to mention China has beef with pretty much every other country.
i hope to see EBU baby from 2024 only in this contest.
I’m really hoping this pushes through because I really want my country to participate so that eventually I can try out xD (although tbh, I have a feeling my country will do internal selections if ever)
Thank you, Sebastian Diaz, for writing the article I had asked for. 🙂
It’s not your fault that there isn’t really much new to write about, regarding Eurovision Asia. It seems to be such a lacklustre situation.
On the other hand, the real Asiavision Song Contest organised by ABU (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union) will be formally launched in Oct this year in China.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABU_Song_Contest_2019
Eurovision Asia is dead and Australia might just focus on their Eurovision journey once for all.
He said the same thing since a decade ago…