Ticket sales for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest will take off on Monday 8th of February at exactly 9:00 CET. From that moment on, a total of 90,000 tickets can be purchased through Billettservice, both online as well as through their call centre. Tickets can only be purchased with a credit card. Update: Tickets for the Final sold out in 20 minutes!

Moments ago, the Semi-Final Allocation Draw for the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Oslo, Norway. Under scrutiny of Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the contest on behalf of the EBU, the Host Broadcaster's Head of Press Peter Svaar conducted the draw. An Oslo police officer was present to keep a strict eye on the procedure. You can watch the Semi-Final Allocation Draw on-demand through ESCTV..

Another big milestone has been reached in the lead up to Oslo 2010. Moments ago, Norwegian broadcaster NRK revealed the theme art and slogan for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest at a well-attended press conference. Next year's running of Europe's favourite TV-show will be constructed around the theme 'Share The Moment'.

Voters and juries from 13 countries all over Europe have made their decision: The Netherlands won the 7th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine! Congratulations!!

During the Semi-Finals and Final of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, you will hear that famous sentence "Europe, start voting now!" a bit earlier, as you will be able to cast your votes by telephone and/or SMS during the entire show, instead of for just 15 minutes. From the start of the first song until 15 minutes after the end of the last song performed, votes can be cast. The Reference Group of the contest decided that.