Евровидение-2008

[anna888]

Да, с этого года изменили правила, я нашла на нескольких сайтах:
"Semi-finals

A qualification round, known as the semi-final, was introduced for the 2004 Contest. This semi-final was held on the Wednesday during Eurovision Week, and was a programme similar in format to the grand final, whose time slot remained 19:00 UTC on the Saturday. Since then, the semi-final programme has been held on the Thursday of Eurovision Week.

The semi-final includes those countries whose ranking on the scoreboard the previous year was not high enough to ensure direct qualification for the final. Until 2007, it was necessary for a country to attain a place within the top ten of the final scoreboard to be assured of direct qualification for the next year's grand final. The Big Four rule remains, so that France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom always automatically bypass the semi-final and are directly included in the grand final.

Since the introduction of the semi-final, it has been possible for countries to vote even though they are not participating in the programme: for example it is possible for one of the Big Four to vote for countries in the semi-final even though they do not participate in the semi-final themselves; and a country in the semi-final, which fails to qualify for the final, may still vote for the other countries in the final on Saturday.

After the votes have been cast in the semi-final, the countries which received the most votes—and will therefore proceed to the final on Saturday—are announced in no particular order. The announcement of the actual number of points these qualifiers received is withheld by the EBU until after the grand final, lest the news influence the result on Saturday through tactical voting or otherwise.

The ten most highly-placed non-Big Four countries in the final were guaranteed a place in next year's final, without the need to participate in next year's semi. If, for example, Germany comes in the top ten, the 11th-placed non-Big-Four country will automatically qualify for next year's final.

On 28 September 2007, at a meeting of the EBU reference group, it was decided that from the 2008 Contest onwards there will be held two semi-finals. Only the host country and the Big Four will automatically qualify for the grand final, and they will be joined by ten countries from each semi—to make a total of 25 entries in the final."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest

Смысл текста, что с этого года все страны должны принять участие в полуфинале, кроме 4ех стран-организаторов Евровидения (Франции, Испании, Германии и Великобритании) и страы, в которой проводится Евровидение.

Ранее же, страны, попавшие в десятку первых, автоматически проходили в финал следующего года.