Eurovision U.S. Offshoot ‘American Song Contest’ Moves Forward, Eyes 2021 Holiday Season Premiere
The long-gestating American Song Contest series is getting close to fruition and is now targeting a debut during the holiday season 2021. There is no network yet.
American Song Contest was announced in May 2019 when Nordic Entertainment Group-backed Brain Academy struck a deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the format rights.
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The American Song Contest project had been developed by Brain Academy’s Anders Lenhoff and Peter Settman alongside Christer Björkman and Ola Melzig, who have worked on over 20 Eurovision Song Contests between them. They are now joined by Ben Silverman of Propagate Content.
As previously reported, American Song Contest will feature musical artists and bands from each of the 50 states and across every musical genre, to perform all original songs on the live televised event. (Watch a promo video above).
The first Eurovision Song Contest was held in 1956 with the aim of uniting nations and exploring new television technology. Since then, over 50 nations have taken part in this unique competition which reaches nearly 200 million viewers in Europe and beyond every year.
In the U.S., the Eurovision final was carried live on Viacom’s Logo TV for three years. It most recently had a U.S. distribution deal with Netflix, tied to the streamer’s original Eurovision movie starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams.
Like virtually any major live events, the 2020 Eurovision was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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