The debate over Israel’s place in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest is spreading further across Europe, and now it has reached Norway. Commercial broadcaster TV 2, one of the country’s two full members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has confirmed it is considering whether it will take part in the November vote that will decide Israel’s participation in the 70th edition of the contest in Vienna.
An extraordinary General Assembly of the EBU has been called for November, where the question of Israel’s participation will be determined by a simple majority of members. Each broadcaster with full membership has the right to vote. For TV 2, this raises a particular dilemma: although it is a full EBU member, it does not hold the Eurovision rights in Norway since those belong to public broadcaster NRK.
Jan-Petter Dahl, TV 2’s Press Manager, explained the situation in a statement:
“As a member of the EBU, TV 2 has also been notified that it will be called to a meeting in November. TV 2 does not have the rights to Eurovision in Norway, and we will await the call before we consider whether it is natural for TV 2 to participate.”
TV 2 was also among the broadcasters present at the recent Nordic meeting in Reykjavík, where Eurovision was one of the topics on the table. The channel now joins a small group of EBU members who cannot actually send an entry to the contest because another broadcaster in their country holds the rights. Similar cases include TV 2 in Denmark, ZDF in Germany, TG4 in Ireland, MSP in Luxembourg, and United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting in the UK.
The question of whether TV 2 will use its vote has become part of the larger conversation surrounding Eurovision 2026, as pressure builds on the EBU to make a definitive ruling on Israel’s status. For Norway, the unusual situation of having two full member broadcasters means both NRK and TV 2 could theoretically play a role in shaping the decision, even if only one of them actually broadcasts the contest.
Source: TV2