[sjhoward]

Is this basically iPlayer's first FAST channel?!

Conventionally, FAST stands for Free Ad-supported Streaming Television, so unlikely to pop-up on iPlayer.

I’m pretty sure they’ve done pop-up channels of pre-recorded stuff before. Haven’t they done similar things around Glastonbury or the Proms?

[IanJRedman]

Is there any news on UHD coverage of the Eurovision final? IIRC there was a UHD feed last year, but not available in the UK.

[aaron_scotland]

Is there any news on UHD coverage of the Eurovision final? IIRC there was a UHD feed last year, but not available in the UK.

My understanding was last years 'UHD' coverage was the RAI HD channel just upscaled.

[IndigoTucker]

twitter.com 
Worth the licence fee alone surely.

Its a four hour loop, rather than a non-stop channel.

[Brekkie]

I think watching them all beforehand is cheating really.

Would be good if they used the channel to air old contests in the evening.

[Jon]

I think watching them all beforehand is cheating really.

How can the viewers cheat? Surely what you mean it takes the fun out of it.

[gottago]

A sneak peak at what the song graphics will look like:

youtu.be 

[Josh]

The heart shapes they're using to introduce the songs are the flag colour ones they're using for this year's contest, but I wonder which ones they'll use for songs from countries not competing in 2023 (if there are any in the mix).

i.imgur.com 

[DavidWhitfield]

A further look at the postcard-to-live transition here, as posted by Twitter user @loveurgirll.

twitter.com 

Bold, colourful - I like it a lot.

Worth noting the admirable attention to detail too in having the lighting in the performers' seating area matching the colours of the country's flag, in this case blue, red, and green for Azerbaijan.

All looking very promising so far. Can't believe the first semi-final is only eight days away!

[gottago]

It looks like the way the finalists are announced at the semis is going to change. The acts will be split into two groups of 7 or 8 acts, the first group will go on stage and it will be announced which five of them will be going through. Then the same will happen with the second group. A number of fan site journalists are saying they've had it confirmed by delegations that this will be happening.

What's not clear at the moment is if they will basically be doing an on-stage version of the current system and will just announce the qualifying countries, or if they'll do it BGT style and go down the line to each country with "you're in the final"/"you're going home". They did this at the Norwegian national final this year for their semi finals.