SHARE
COPY LINK

EUROVISION

Eurovision a winner for TeliaSonera

Sweden’s domestic qualifying competition and the Eurovision song contest finals which follow are big cash cows for TeliaSonera, regardless of who wins.

Eurovision a winner for TeliaSonera

Sweden’s entrant in the contest this year, Charlotte Perrelli, who won the contest in 1999, was the fan favourite in a pre-contest vote conducted by the BBC.

A second Eurovision win would secure Perrelli’s place in the record books as the first woman to win the contest twice.

But even if Perrelli doesn’t live up to expectations, TeliaSonera stands to benefit when Swedes pick up their phones to vote for their favorite songs in the music competition finals, which get underway Tuesday night in Belgrade, Serbia.

The company’s MegaCall telephone voting system has already earned the company 17 million kronor ($2.9 million) from voting during Sweden’s domestic qualifying rounds.

Income so far is nearly twice the amount taken in by Swedish public broadcasting charity Radiohjälpen, which also received a portion of the proceeds generated by viewers who cast their votes by telephone.

Still, the sum is just a drop in the bucket compared with what TeliaSonera earns from all the TV programs which use MegaCall.

According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, the telecom company earns between 350 and 400 million kronor per year from the telephone voting service.

Perrelli is scheduled to perform in the second Eurovision semifinal on Thursday night.

A new Eurovision champion will be crowned following Saturday night’s final competition.

EUROVISION

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Cornelia Jakobs, Sweden's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, burst into tears and jumped onto presenter Mario Acampas, after shooting through to the final on Thursday night.

Sweden among favourites after leaping through to Eurovision final

Jakobs was emotional at the press conference after her victory, telling the story of her progress from an “largely unknown” indie artist to the Eurovision stage. 

“There are a lot of feelings right now in this little body, an extremely large amount of feelings that can’t really fit in, so they’re exploding,” she said, before beginning to cry. “But I’m so happy and overwhelmed by all the support I’ve got from all these fantastic countries.” 

When the time came to pick lots for which half of the final she would appear in, she leapt onto Mario Acampas, the presenter asking questions at the press conference, wrapping her legs around his waist and clasping herself tightly to his torso. 

He then walked her over to the bowl where the lots were lying. 

“I want you to choose the second half,” she said to him. “Imagine that I have a pistol here and on the count of three I’m going to shoot you if you don’t choose.”

He refused to pick for her so she took one herself and got the second half. 

Jakobs, with her song, “Hold me closer”, was the clear favourite to go into the final, and will go through alongside Finland’s The Rasmus, and his song Jezebel, Serbia’s Konstrakta with “In corpore sano”, as well as entries from Belgium, Czechia, Azerbaijan, Poland, Estonia, Australia, and Romania. 

You can see her performance on Thursday in the video below. 

In the final, she will meet the other favourites, which include Ukraine, Italy, and the United Kingdom. 

The final will be shown on Sweden’s state broadcaster SVT at 9pm on Saturday. 

SHOW COMMENTS