Super Vision Song Contest 29

Semi-finals date
 Final date
 Venue
 Host broadcaster
 Interval act
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Returning countries
Participation map
* Participating countries     Withdrawing countries
 Voting system
 Winning song

The **Super Vision Song Contest 29** is the twenty-ninth edition of the Super Vision Song Contest. It's taking place for the first time in Lithuania, at the Žalgiris Arena in Kaunaus, following the country's first victory in the previous edition in Verona with the song "Superstar", performed by Beatrich. The contest consists of two semi-finals on 29 December 2017 and a final on 10 January 2018.

Forty countries are participating in the contest, the biggest amount since the 27th edition. Among these countries, twelve announced their return while Azerbaijan, Colombia, Hungary, India, Mauritius and South Korea announced their respective withdrawals.

## Location

**Lithuania** (Lithuanian: *Lietuva*), officially the **Republic of Lithuania** (Lithuanian: *Lietuvos Respublika*), is a country in the Baltic region of northern-eastern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.8 million people as of 2017, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. Lithuanians are a Baltic people. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of only two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.

### **Bidding phase**

A number of cities bid to host the contest, including Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Alytus. On 4 December 2017, it was confirmed that Kaunas won the bidding stage and would therefore host the contest.

**Key**
  †   Host venue

## Participating countries

It was announced on 16 December 2017 that forty countries will participate in the contest. Twelve countries will return while Azerbaijan, Colombia, Hungary, India, Mauritius and South Korea will withdraw from the edition. This marks the highest number of participating countries since the 27th edition.

### **Semi-final 1**

Seventeen countries participated in the first semi-final. Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova voted in this semi-final. The top ten countries highlighted qualified for the final.

### **Semi-final 2**

Eighteen countries participated in the second semi-final. Brazil and Norway voted in this semi-final. The top ten countries highlighted qualified for the final.

## Other countries

Further information: List of countries in the Super Vision Song Contest
Eligibility for participation in the Super Vision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active SBU membership. Several countries have provisionally confirmed their participation in the contest, while information from the remaining members regarding their participation has not yet been disclosed.

### **Active SBU members**

* Colombia – The Director General of RTVC Sistema de Medios Públicos (RTVC SMP) announced on 3 November 2017 that Colombia would withdraw from the contest due to financial struggles. However, it was noted that a new broadcaster could take over the country's participation given the interest in the country.
* Finland – Although Finland participated in the previous edition, no news has been released regarding its participation in the Super Vision Song Contest 29.
* Hungary – On 27 November 2017, TV2 announced that Hungary would withdraw, without specifying any reason for doing so.
* India – On 3 December 2017, the Indian broadcaster announced that India would withdraw from the contest due to lack of interest in the country.
* Mauritius – The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) announced on 4 November 2017 that Mauritius would not participate in the contest due to their inability to secure stable funding and sponsorship for participation.
* South Korea – On 6 November 2017, the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) announced that South Korea would take a one-edition break to restructure its programming strategy.