The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has developed a new Eurovision
Song Contest-related skill for Amazon’s Alexa voice service, allowing
users to discover and listen to Eurovision winnwers of Amazon Echo and
Echo Dot devices.
The Eurovision feature, developed jointly by the EBU’s Technology and
innovation and media departments, allows users in the UK, Germany,
Austria and the US to discover who has won every Eurovision Song Contest
since the event began in 1956, by asking Alexa who won in a particular
year.
Alexa will then ask users if they want to hear the winner and can play
all winning entries over the first 50 years of the contest.
Users can also ask when a particular country last won, which countries
have won the most and which have never won, and when is the Grand Final
of the current competition, among other combinations.
Amazon Echo owners in the UK will also be able to listen to a live
stream of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final through the skill via
EBU member the BBC.
“The EBU is always at the forefront of innovation and with the growth of
voice-controlled devices such as Amazon Echo we wanted to create a tool
that provides added value to our flagship co-production. In time we
hope to develop the “skill” to allow users to delve even deeper into the
Eurovision Song Contest’s rich history,” said Simon Fell, director of
technology and innovation at the EBU.
“Every year the Eurovision Song Contest gains more fans as they discover
the world’s biggest entertainment show,” said the EBU’s director of
media Jean Philip De Tender.
“This new skill allows those new to the event, and loyal followers
alike, to discover all the great winners from the past and test their
friends and family on how much they know about the Song Contest tool.”