Editing Eurovision Song Contest (section)

=== Pre-selections and relegation ===
Broadcasters from 29 countries registered to take part in the 1993 contest, a figure the EBU considered unable to fit reasonably into a single television show. A pre-selection method was subsequently introduced for the first time in order to reduce the number of competing entries, with the seven new countries from [[Central and Eastern Europe]] participating in {{lang|sl|[[Kvalifikacija za Millstreet]]}}, held in [[Ljubljana]], Slovenia, one month before the event. Following a vote amongst the seven competing countries, {{Esccnty|Bosnia and Herzegovina}}, {{Esccnty|Croatia}} and {{Esccnty|Slovenia}} were chosen to head to the contest in [[Millstreet]], Ireland, whilst {{Esccnty|Estonia}}, {{Esccnty|Hungary}}, {{Esccnty|Romania}} and {{Esccnty|Slovakia}} were forced to wait another year before being allowed to compete for the first time.<ref name="Millstreet 93">{{Cite web |title=Eurovision Song Contest: Millstreet 1993 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/millstreet-1993 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest}}</ref>{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=132–135; 219}} A new [[Promotion and relegation|relegation system]] was introduced for entry into the 1994 contest, with the lowest-placed countries being forced to sit out the following year's event to be replaced by countries which had not competed in the previous contest. The bottom seven countries in 1993 were required to miss the following year's contest, and were replaced by the four unsuccessful countries in {{lang|sl|Kvalifikacija za Millstreet}} and new entries from {{Esccnty|Lithuania}}, {{Esccnty|Poland}}, and {{Esccnty|Russia}}.<ref name="Millstreet 93" /><ref name="Dublin 94">{{Cite web |title=Eurovision Song Contest: Dublin 1994 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/dublin-1994 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest}}</ref>{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=136–139}}

This system was used again in 1994 for qualification for the {{Escyr|1995||1995 contest}}, but a new system was introduced for the {{Escyr|1996||1996 contest}}, when an audio-only qualification round was held in the months before the contest in [[Oslo]], Norway; this system was primarily introduced in an attempt to appease Germany, one of Eurovision's biggest markets and financial contributors, which would have otherwise been relegated under the previous system.<ref name="Oslo 96">{{Cite web |title=Eurovision Song Contest: Oslo 1996 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/oslo-1996 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest}}</ref>{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=144–147}} 29 countries competed for 22 places in the main contest alongside the automatically qualified Norwegian hosts. However, Germany would ultimately still miss out, and joined Hungary, Romania, Russia, {{Esccnty|Denmark}}, {{Esccnty|Israel}}, and {{Esccnty|North Macedonia|t=Macedonia}} as one of the seven countries to be absent from the Oslo contest.<ref name="Oslo 96" />{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=144–147}} {{asof|2024}} this is the only contest Germany has not participated in. For the {{Escyr|1997||1997 contest}}, a similar relegation system to that used between 1993 and 1995 was introduced, with each country's average scores in the preceding five contests being used as a measure to determine which countries would be relegated.<ref name="Dublin 97">{{Cite web |title=Eurovision Song Contest: Dublin 1997 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/dublin-1997 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest}}</ref>{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=148–151}} This was subsequently changed again in 2001, back to the same system used between 1993 and 1995 where only the results from that year's contest would count towards relegation.<ref name="Copenhagen 01">{{Cite web |title=Eurovision Song Contest: Copenhagen 2001 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/copenhagen-2001 |access-date=1 July 2020 |publisher=Eurovision Song Contest}}</ref>{{sfn|O'Connor|2010|pp=164–167}}