Rumours about what regional broadcaster takes on Eurovision duties for Germany feel as old as the contest itself, but now after a long time it finally has happened. As per Eurovision.de, SWR will be Germany’s participating broadcaster for Eurovision 2026. They will be taking over from NDR who have had the role since 1996.
The whys, whats, whens, and hows of SWR taking on Eurovision
Eurovision.de reports that the change is part of a broader set of reforms within ARD and its regional broadcasters. With each broadcaster focusing on different types of entertainment, ESC now has moved under the SWR umbrella. While this will technically be the first time that SWR takes on ESC responsibilities, predecessor Südwestfunk did send in Germany’s entry in 1962 (Conny Froboess, 6th) and 1978 (Ireen Sheer, also 6th). With the future of the all new national final format Chefsache ESC still up in the air, only time will tell what SWR might do with this opportunity. SWR does have some experience with competitive live entertainment with Immer wieder sonntags.
To help the transition between broadcasters, people from SWR will already be at ESC 2025 to learn from their NDR counterparts. If Germany does win in 2025, NDR will be responsible for organising the contest. SWR would still take on the German participation duties.
Wait, how does German public broadcasting worK?
A quick bit of context for those who need a refresher or just appreciate some background info. German broadcaster ARD is a joint organisation of regional broadcasters, that itself runs flagship national channel Das Erste plus a handful of other radio and TV channels. ARD has always given the responsibility of organizing the German ESC entry to a regional broadcaster. After a lot of rotation, NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk, responsible for 4 of the 5 northern Bundesländer) has been the broadcaster of choice since 1996. While rumours about Eurovision organisation switching hands has always been common, these intensified following the string of poor results, culminating in early 2024 with rumours that a change to MDR was pretty much a done deal. While these rumours turned out to be untrue, we now know that SWR (Südwestrundfunk, responsible for Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate) will be taking over.
Germany’s Eurovision journey
Germany has been part of Eurovision since the beginning, debuting in 1956. Their debut entries were Walter Andreas Schwarz’s “Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück” and Freddy Quinn’s “So geht das jede Nacht”. Germany has appeared at every Eurovision except for 1996, which means they have been at more Contests than any other country. They have a long history of success in Eurovision, finishing in the top 3 an impressive 13 times. Germany has won the contest twice: Nicole won in 1982 with her song “Ein bißchen Frieden”, taking home 161 points. Their second win came in 2010, when Lena scored 246 points with her song “Satellite”.
Germany’s most recent Eurovision entry was Isaak with “Always on the Run”. As Germany is part of the Big 5, they automatically qualified for the Grand Final. In the Final, the song received 117 points and finished in 12th place – the first time the country has finished on the left hand side of the scoreboard since 2018.
What do you think will change with SWR doing Eurovision instead of NDR? And what do you hope SWR keeps from the current German setup? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, Tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2025!
News Source: Eurovision.de
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
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