"It's the first full week of February, which means that Eurovision Selection Season is full speed ahead. Here's what's happening the week of February 5, 2017.<!--more-->
National Finals
- Switzerland: The six finalists for Die Entscheidungsshow(Which I keep reading as "Entschuldigung") will take the stage to become the Swiss representative in Kyiv. The winner will be determined by 100% public vote. The show starts at 20.05 CET / 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific and should be viewable on the SRF Zwei webstream.
- Italy: The 67th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival begins Tuesday evening, with the final taking place Saturday. 22 acts will perform in the Big Artist category, with the winner of the festival receiving the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest. It is possible that the winner will not compete in Kyiv (last year's Sanremo winner didn't compete in Stockholm) or that a different song could be chosen (like in 2012), but this process has produced fantastic results for Italy. The festival airs on RAI at 21.00 CET / 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific each night.
- Germany: Deutschland has adopted a somewhat convoluted format for Unser Song fur Kyiv. In the first round, the five contestants will do covers of songs ranging from Johnny Cash to Adele. Three will advance to perform one of the two songs that will be Germany's entry. One more contestant will be eliminated, then the remaining two will perform the other song up for consideration. The final round will feature the two preferred performances: one artist doing both songs, both artists doing one song, or each artist doing either song. 26th place is tough, yo. The final airs Thursday on ARD at 20.15 CET / 2:15pm Eastern / 11:15am Pacific.
Semi-Finals
- Israel: Six contestants remain on Rising Star. On Monday's episode, they will be placed in three pairs to duel for votes. The winners of each duel will advance to next week's final. On Tuesday, the three contestants who lost the duel will battle each other for the fourth finale slot.
- Hungary: A Dal will have a double dose of semi-finals this week. The first semi-final will be held Friday, due to heat 2's postponement after last month's tragic bus crash in Italy. The second semi-final will be held on Saturday. Both shows should start at 18.30 CET / 12:30pm Eastern / 9:30am Pacific on Duna World.
- Estonia: The first semi-final of Eesti Laul 2017 will feature 10 acts competing for five slots in the final to be held March 4.
- Ukraine: The second of three semi-finals will take place Saturday with another eight acts fighting for two spots in the host country's final. The show should begin at 17.00 CET / 11am Eastern / 8am Pacific.
Preliminary Rounds
- Romania: All this week, TVR will feature auditions for their national selection. You can watch the process live on the TVR website starting at 20.00 CET / 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific.
- Latvia: Supernova will have its first live show today. Eleven acts will perform with two advancing to the semi-final based on public voting. Then, the jury will select two more entries to advance from the remaining contenders. The show will start at 20.30 CET / 2:30pm Eastern / 11:30am Pacific on LTV.
- Sweden: Melfest Heat 2 will be held in Malmö, with seven acts competing for two spots in the final and two spots in the second chance round. The show will air on SVT at 20.00 CET / 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific.