Eurovision Song Contest 2017

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 (shortly ESC) was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine, after Jamala won for Ukraine in 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden with her song "1944".
Ukraine hosted the contest for the second time after 2005. The competition was held from 9th to the 13th; the first semifinal was on Tuesday, May 9, the second semifinal on Thursday, May 11 and the grand final was on Saturday, May 13.
Venue
The contest happened in the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev. The venue holds 13,000 people and the venue will be rebuilt for the contest.
The ESC 2005, which was also held in Kiev, took place in the Palace Of Sports. This was also a possible venue for 2017, but might not fulfill today's demands.
However, the venue must have a maximum capacity of 10,000. The venue also has to be covered and an international press centre has to be in reach. Also it must have a capacity for 1,550 journalists.
The following cities applied for being a host city:
Dnipro
Kharkiv
Kherson
Kiev (capital city)
Lviv
Odessa
Countries that will not participate/return/debut in 2017
: The Bosnian television agency BHRT announced that they are in current financial difficulties, so financing for the ESC is not possible. Bosnia returned in 2016 by getting the money of sponsors.
: The country of Kazakhstan became an associate-member of the EBU in the beginning of 2016. Later on they said that it could be possible that Kazakhstan would participate for the first time. On the 31th of October, the date on which the list of countries taking part in 2017 was published by the EBU, Kazakhstan wasn't named as a participating country. A reason why they did not debut was not announced.
: The country of Luxembourg announced that they would not return to the contest. Luxembourg last participated in 1993. Of all the countries which have taken part in the competition, Luxembourg have not participated for the longest time.
: The Turkish television TRT said that they will not be participating in 2017. They said that there are not satisfied about the voting system and the rules with the "Big-5". Turkey have not participated in the competition since 2013.
: The Slovakian television RTVS also said that they will not return in 2017. A real reason wasn't mentioned. Slovakia last participated in 2012.
Returning artists
Some artists participated in the contest before and will represent their country again or as a another role:
Semi-Final
Portugal and Romania will return; both quit last year's contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, who returned in last year's contest, have quit this year because of financial difficulties.
On the 31th of October 2016 it was announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), that there will be 43 countries to participate in 2017.
First Semi-Final
The first semi final will take place on Tuesday, the 9th of May 2017. 18 countries will compete, the 10 countries with the most votes of them will qualify for the final.
The running order will be decided and announced when all the countries have selected their entry.
Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.
Second Semi-Final
The second semi-final will take place on Thursday, the 11th of May 2017. 19 countries will compete, the 10 countries with the most votes of them will qualify for the final.
The running order will be decided and announced when all the countries have selected their entry. After a request of the Swiss TV-broadcaster SRF, Switzerland was directly determined to participate and vote in Semi-Final 2.
France, Germany and Ukraine will vote in this semi-final.
Big-Five (including host country Ukraine)
These five countries are directly qualified for the final. Ukraine, as the host country, will also be performing directly in the Grand Final.
Detailed list of participating countries
An internal selection of the national TV-station is a secret selection without a national final, where the pupilarity is able to vote.
Other
The Head of the Ukrainian national broadcaster NTU, Zurab Alasania, has withdrawn in protest to the Government's budget for the broadcaster in 2017. For 2017, the Ukrainian Government has provided EUR42.8 million, of which more than EUR16 million will be spent on Eurovision. That leaves the broadcaster with just EUR7 million Euros, which is clearly too low money for other projects in the future, according to Zurab.
For the first time ever, Russia got drawn in the second semi-final. Russia always participated in the first semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals.
Belarus will be represented by a song in Belarussian language for the first time.
Christer Bjorkmann, a Swedish TV-producer for the national final Melodifestivalen and show producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and 2016, will join the Ukrainian producing team.
For the first time ever, there will be only men who will host the contest.