Jan Slagter puts forward his broadcaster MAX as the possible new home of the Eurovision Song Contest if AvroTros continues to boycott the song festival. Is this good news for Ben Cramer?
There is actually no way back for AvroTros now that they have boycotted the Eurovision Song Contest this year due to Israel’s participation. The country will be there again next year, so it would be strange if the broadcaster suddenly wanted to participate again. So you would say that it is obvious that the NPO will look for a new home.
Jan wants to
MAX boss Jan Slagter certainly likes it. “The Eurovision Song Contest is important for the Netherlands and I actually think that we should simply participate with an artist. While we also condemn actions by the Israeli government, this does not necessarily have to lead to a boycott,” he says in the A.D.
He continues in the newspaper: “If AvroTros does not go again, I would like to sit down with the NPO. But we are not going to pay for this from our own funds. Then the NPO will have to contribute a significant amount to the event fund to help out financially.”
Half a million
Participating in the Eurovision Song Contest easily costs half a million euros and AvroTros pays that from the pot of membership fees. The other major merger broadcasters BnnVara and KRO-NCRV, just like the EO, are not interested in the song festival.
KRO-NCRV boss Peter Kuipers does not want to spend any money on it. He says: “This is not part of our broadcaster, regardless of what you think of Israel. So no, we are not standing in line.”
Imca and Ben
The ball is now in AvroTros’s court, but it is not impossible that the song festival will soon end up at MAX. If Jan Slagter does indeed take over the torch, a completely unique interpretation of the Dutch entry beckons. The broadcaster focuses primarily on the audience over fifty, and that almost inevitably colors the choice of artists.
Names such as Ben Cramer, who represented the Netherlands at the festival in 1971, or Imca Marina quickly become obvious. It would be an entry that would pleasantly surprise MAX’s target group, but is the rest of the country waiting for an elderly person to go to Europe? The chance is small…