Hello! I am tragically an American. However. Every year I see you post about Eurovision and every year I get more interested in watching it. Any links/ideas for how to watch this year's?
Hello, sweet tragic American! I have two ways to watch Eurovision, one very direct and official and one slightly indirect but also official.
First, the direct approach: Eurovision Song Contest's very own YouTube channel! They stream the two semifinals and the final live - if you're able, you can still catch the second semi and final livestreams on Thursday and Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time. If not, the full shows are still viewable on the channel, and they do short 3-ish minute videos of every performance too. In previous years these livestreams and videos were restricted in North America due to pesky rights issues, and I couldn't tell you if this has changed or not, but if you have a VPN now would be the perfect time to make it disguise you as a Swede or something.
The indirect approach is still official and very accessible, and it was my primary source for Eurovision watching the four and a half years I lived in Canada. Sweden's public broadcaster, SVT, has an online service named SVT Play, which also livestreams Eurovision in real time. This website has no restrictions (other than the videos disappear at some point) so you can watch freely if YouTube doesn't work out, and they don't even make you listen to commentary if you don't want it! SVT Play is also how I tune in to Sweden's extensive pre-selection show, Melodifestivalen. I owe them loads.
I hope this helps! You can try catching up on the first semifinal now with the tools you have acquired!
