Impact of Spain axing Eurovision weighed up

As Iceland this week became the fifth country to pull out of the 2026 Eurovision festival, the full implication of Spain's decision last week not to join in was being assessed.

In protest at the decision to include Israel in the contest in Vienna in May next year, the Spanish publicly funded broadcaster RTVE will not be sending an entry and will not broadcast the show.

RTVE is one of the big five European broadcasters that normally heavily support it and this year paid 331,721 euros just to take part and transmit Eurovision.

A large TV audience of six million people in Spain tuned in this year. The 2026 event is still expected to be available to view in Spain over the internet, however.