The national finals keep on falling. After Malta Eurovision Song Contest has seen its demise to The X Factor Malta, Switzerland have now culled their Die Entscheidungsshow format. The news comes as Swiss broadcaster SRF has published details of their 2019 selection.

In place of Die Entschediungsshow, SRF will now have an audience panel and international jury select the song. This won’t be televised, with the winning song being published at some point after the selection is made.

SRF’s reasoning for cancelling Die Entscheidungsshow is reportedly for “austerity” measures. But given the format’s lack of success in recent years, it might not be too much of a surprise.

Selection opens on 1st September

Songs can be submitted to SRF from September 1 to October 1. SRF have even given some hints as to the type of songs they’re looking for. The rules suggest songs that play on “current events” or an “emotional reaction” — highlighting Netta’s reference to the #MeToo movement, and Michael Schulte emoting the death of his father.

Anyone can submit a song, and Swiss citizenship is not required to enter. The winning song and artist will be selected before the end of 2018.

Interestingly, the rules also make a clear point that SRF will have the final decision when it comes to staging. So don’t go rushing to them with elaborate stage plans, y’all!

The choice will be made by a specially selected 100 member audience panel — similar to Germany’s successful 2018 process — and a 20 person international jury. This jury will be made up of ex-Eurovision jurors, so they’ll have plenty of experience and know what to look for.

There’s been a lack of Swiss success in recent years. Zibbz’s failure to qualify in 2018 was the country’s fourth straight year of missing the final. Even with some shake-ups to the Die Entscheidungsshow format in recent years, it’s clear it’s just not clicked for Switzerland.

Are you sad to see the end of Die Entscheidungsshow? Do you think that the change is a good thing for Switzerland? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below.