€1.9m price of lost dream

IT cost state broadcaster TVE €398,615.93 to finish last-but-one in this year’s Eurovision song contest.

Although El Sueño de Morfeo’s offering was not to Europe’s taste, the debacle in Malmo (Sweden) cost less than the 2012 expedition when TVE spent €427,613.99 and came 10th.

The song contest has cost the state €1.9 million since 2009, said RTVE president Leopoldo Gonzalez-Echenique, answering MP Ricardo Sixto in the central parliament.

The cost of entering Eurovision is not high given the contest’s popularity and huge audience share, TVE’s entertainment director Carlos Mochales commented on the eve of the contest last May.

“We try to reduce spending as much as possible and minimise costs with commercial brands,” he added.

Pullmantur sponsored this year’s edition and El Sueño de Morfeo travelled to Malmo on a Pullmantur ship.

Sixto also asked the RTVE president if next year’s song would be chosen by popular vote.  “Spain can win a World Cup but can’t finish halfway up the Eurovision leader-board,” he said.