Bulgaria’s national broadcaster BNT has revealed its alternative schedule for Eurovision 2020. Over the course of five consecutive nights, the network will air four past contests, culminating with the EBU’s Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light special on Saturday 16 May.
Check out the full schedule below. All programmes will air on the broadcaster’s flagship station BNT 1.
Additionally, BNT will arrange an online public vote to determine which Eurovision 2020 act would have won Bulgaria’s 12 points. Outside of its own coverage, the BNT has confirmed that the delegation is working with other TV and radio stations with the view to bring the Eurovision 2020 songs to a wider audience.
The #Eurovision week on BNT 1 will bring many new fans to the #ESC family in #Bulgaria! ?? We are happy that we will also work with some of the biggest private Music Radio and TV stations to bring the #ESC2020 songs and the biggest hits from the contest to a wider audience! ? ?
— Vasil Ivanov ?? (@VIvanovIvanov) May 5, 2020
Bulgaria’s Alternative Eurovision 2020 Schedule — Eurovision Week
12 May: Eurovision 2007 — 22:00 EEST
The Eurovision week proceedings kick off on Tuesday night. In the slot which would have been occupied by semi-final one, BNT will air the grand final of Eurovision 2007. This was a historic contest for Bulgaria, as it was the first time the country qualified from its semi-final. Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov stormed up the leaderboard with “Water”, finishing in fifth place. This would remain the nation’s best score for almost ten years. Eurovision fans recently rewatched this final as part of #EurovisionAgain and voted Ukraine as their new winner.
13 May: Eurovision 2016 — 22:00 EEST
The next evening, the broadcaster will air the 2016 final from Stockholm. After a two year break from the contest, Bulgaria return with the barnstorming “If Love Was A Crime”. The number was of course performed by Poli Genova. And not only did she break the country’s non-qualification streak, Poli broke the previous record and finished fourth. The 2016 contest was also rewatched as part of #EurovisionAgain — fans voted Australia as their new winner.
14 May: Junior Eurovision 2015 — 21:00 EEST
For Thursday night, audiences are going back a year to 2015 when Bulgaria hosted Junior Eurovision. The contest arrived in Sofia after Krisia, Hasan & Ibrahim secured second place with “Planet of the Children” in 2014. The country’s successful hosting of the event reignited interest in Eurovision generally and is often credited as kickstrating Bulgaria’s renaissance at the main contest.
15 May: Eurovision 2017 — 22:00 EEST
Friday is set aside for yet another record-breaking contest — 2017. In Kyiv, Bulgaria achieved its highest score ever. In fact, Kristian Kostov almost won the whole thing with “Beautiful Mess”. However, he ultimately had to settle for second place behind Portugal’s Salvador Sobral.
16 May: Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light — 22:00 EEST
On Saturday night, Bulgaria will link up with the rest of Europe and screen the EBU’s Eurovision 2020 replacement show — Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light.
What do you think of Bulgaria’s schedule? Will your try to watch any of the events? Let us know in the comments.
Can we just appreciate that Bulgaria loved hosting JESC 2015 so much that they forgot that they participated (see picture).
Too bad that no one is watching BNT except old people that tune in for parliament news and stuff 😀 . But yeah , not a bad idea , 2007 was a really good show , glad they will air it again.
Why are some countries starting the broadcast at 21.00 CET and others at 21.15 CET?