Intervision Song Contest

Intervision Song Contest
GenreMusic competition
Created byInternational Radio and Television Organisation
No. of episodes8 contests
Production
Production locations
Production companiesInternational Radio and Television Organisation
1965–68: Czechoslovak Television
1977–80: Telewizja Polska
Original release
Release12 June 1965 (1965-06-12) 
22 June 1968 (1968-06-22)
Release24 August 1977 (1977-08-24) 
23 August 1980 (1980-08-23)
Related
Sopot International Song Festival

The Intervision Song Contest (ISC) was an international song competition organised by the International Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT) between 1965 and 1980, and broadcast live to national broadcasters via the Intervision network. The contest took place in several locations in Czechoslovakia, and in the Forest Opera in Sopot, Poland. It was the Eastern Bloc equivalent to the Eurovision Song Contest.

The ISC was organised from 1965 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1980. Since 1977, it replaced the Sopot International Song Festival (Sopot ISF) that had been held in Sopot since 1961. In 1981 the ISC/Sopot ISF was cancelled because of the rise of the independent trade union movement, Solidarity, which was judged by other Eastern bloc communist governments to be "counter-revolutionary".

In 2008, an unrelated contest with the same name took place, as an attempt to revival, though subsequent editions planned in both 2014 and 2015 did not materialise. After the Russian broadcasters withdrew from the European Broadcasting Union upon being excluded from the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, another revival was announced by the Russian Ministry of Culture in 2023, with Russian president Vladimir Putin signing a decree for it to be held in Moscow later in 2025.