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Asia could be seeing a competitive international song contest in the near future with proposals on the table for a new competition.

At this year’s ABU General Assembly meeting in Istanbul, Turkey discussions will be taking place regarding the creation of the “ABU Cup TV Song Contest”. No details have yet been revealed about how the song contest will work, but the idea is a co-production between the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and Hunan Television. Hunan Television is a Chinese broadcaster and is currently the second most viewed channel in China, earlier this year it became the first broadcaster to show the Eurovision Song Contest live in China. At the time the channel expressed an interest in participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in the future.

The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union has experience in televised music events having held the ABU TV Song Festival since 2012. The Festival which is a gala event showcasing talent from across the Asia-Pacific region is limited to a total of 15 countries per year participating. This years TV Song Festival is being held in Turkey, with countries such as Kazakhstan, Japan, Indonesia and India participating.

International song contests in Asia have had a troubled recent past. The last time that a competitive international song contest was proposed was in 2009/2010 when “Our Sound: The Asia Pacific Song Contest” due to bring a total of 14 countries together for a two-night competition, it eventually failed due to issues between the organisers and the EBU who had licensed the Asian production of a Eurovision Song Contest event.

Should the event be confirmed it is expected based on the current criteria for participation in the ABU TV Song Festival that the following countries would be eligible to participate in the ABU Cup TV Song Festival:

  • Afghanistan
  • Australia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bangladesh
  • Bhutan
  • Brunei
  • Cambodia
  • China
  • Egypt
  • Fiji
  • Hong Kong
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Iran
  • Japan
  • Jordan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Laos
  • Macau
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Mongolia
  • Myanmar
  • Nauru
  • Nepal
  • New Zealand
  • Norfolk Island
  • North Korea
  • Palestine
  • Pakistan
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Philippines
  • Samoa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Solomon Islands
  • South Korea
  • Sri Lanka
  • Thailand
  • Timor-Leste
  • Tonga
  • Turkey
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan
  • Vanuatu
  • Vietnam

More details about the event are expected after October 26th when the “New Initiative Ideas” panel has met at the ABU General Assembly.

Source: ABU

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