YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The European Braodcasting Union has reconsidered the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. According to the information provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Diana Mantsakanian, the Head of International Relations at ARMTV, henceforth, two semi-finals will be held. 10 countries will be elected in each semi-final, 9 out of which by telephone calls and messages of television watchers, and the other one by the jury. Besides the 20 countries, which passed those stages, and the winner of the previous contest, since 2008 four countries: England, France, Spain, and Germany, which pay the greatest sums for the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, will always take part in the final of the contests. It was mentioned that both of the semi-finals will be broadcast on the same day, that will be a live broadcast, however, Armenians will watch only that semi-final, in which the representative of Armenia will take part. Diana Mnatsakanian stated that they have already started to accept participation applications for the Eurovision-2008 and that it will continue until the end of December. Public hearings will be held by "H1" (Public TV) in February 2008, and the singer, who will represent Armenia in the contest will be decided on the bases of the messages sent by television watchers. It was also mentioned that according to the rules developed by "H1", henceforth singers are to present the works of only Armenian composers. "We do not want to present the works of foreign composers of songs in the authoritative contest. We aim at presenting the songs written by Armenian composers in the contest. Thus, both famous composers, as well as beginners have an opportunity to present their works to society," Diana Mnatsakanian mentioned.

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