YEREVAN, JANUARY 9, ARMENPRESS: Public broadcasters from 36 countries have confirmed participation in the 59th Eurovision Song Contest. Poland (TVP) and Portugal (RTP) are making a comeback in 2014, while the new Greek public broadcaster NERIT is set to continue the nation's participation after last year's closure of its predecessor.

Armenpress reports, quoting the official website of Eurovision that this year's 36 participants are the broadcasters in Albania (RTSH), Armenia (AMPTV), Austria (ORF), Azerbaijan (Ictimai TV), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (VRT), Denmark (DR), Estonia (ERR), Finland (YLE), France (France 3), Georgia (GPB), Germany (NDR), Greece (NERIT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RÚV), Ireland (RTÉ), Israel (IBA), Italy (RAI), Latvia (LTV), Lithuania (LRT), FYR Macedonia (MKRTV), Malta (PBS), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), the Netherlands (AvroTros), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Romania (TVR), Russia (RTR), San Marino (SRMTV), Spain (TVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SRG SSR), United Kingdom (BBC) and Ukraine (NTU).

One more country might take the stage this year, as the confirmation deadline was extended by ten days for the Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO.

"We see broadcasters from Poland and Portugal returning to the competition as they seem to be on their way to recovery from the financial crisis, while others are facing tough choices as they are being hit by severe budget cuts," says Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

This year's Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the B&W Hallerne in Copenhagen, Denmark, on the 6th, 8th and 10th of May and is hosted by the Danish EBU Member DR. Last year, the three shows reached some 180 million people across Europe, as well as in Australia, Kazakhstan and China.

According to the promise of the Armenian Public TV Company, at the Eurovision 2014 Armenia will be represented by the singer and satirical genre artist Aram MP3.