Contest organisers meet the press

Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, told the assembled press that the team were satisfied with the first Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest. When asked about possible sanctions being taken against Channel One Russia following the country's late withdrawal from the competition, Sand confirmed that this will be discussed in due course. "We are not going to discuss this now, it will be discussed after the contest. At the minute we are focussing on producing three spectacular live shows with all 42 participating countries," he said.

Executive Producer Pavlo Hrytsak was asked about ticket sales for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Pavlo mentioned that there had been high demand for tickets to the contest in Kyiv. In recent weeks became tickets became available for the fan zone meaning that more people were able to purchase tickets for all the live shows. Pavlo was also presented with a book on the Eurovision Song Contest, written by Dr Irving Wolther, who had previous interviewed him.

Technical Producer Ola Melzig stated that the show is an exciting production to work on. He added that the international team have been working closely with the Ukrainian team to ensure that the smooth cooperation continues. One of the top producers of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, Christer Bjorkman, added that the team had worked around the clock to ensure that the live shows were produced at the highest possible level. 

During the press conference tributes were paid to the work done by Victoria Romanova, who stood down as Executive Producer earlier this year. Jon Ola Sand confirmed that the Reference Group, the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest, would meet in June to discuss dates for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.