The BBC, the British national broadcaster, has revealed that telephone voting has finished, ahead of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, in Vienna.

The United Kingdom was one of five countries to trial telephone voting in 1997 Eurovision Song Contest – the others been Austria, Germany, Sweden & Switzerland. Online voting will now take place. The full statement from the BBC can be seen below:

“Earlier this year, the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel marked a big change – not just in music, but in how audiences take part. It was the last major BBC show to offer premium-rate phone voting.

For years, shows like Strictly Come Dancing, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and Eurovision let viewers vote by calling premium-rate numbers. However, this is now an outdated system and also expensive to run.

Online voting has become the go-to choice for most viewers. In fact, the overwhelming majority of votes for the last Strictly series were cast online.

And earlier this year, BT, the company that provided these phone services for the BBC, announced it would stop offering them in early 2025.”

Let us know what you think about the United Kingdom and the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest – either in the comments below or on our FACEBOOK, BLUESKY, TWITTER, YOUTUBE, INSTAGRAM and TIKTOK pages.

The Eurovision Community, which Eurovision Ireland are a part of, celebrates diversity through music. Please keep your comments respectful. We will not tolerate racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, body-shaming or any other derogatory or hostile language.

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: BBC