original_language_of_work melodifestivalen 1978
Sveriges Television AB ( SVT ), " Sweden ' s Television ", is the ___MASK45___ national public TV broadcaster , funded by a television licence fee payable by all owners of television sets , and set by the Riksdag . The ___MASK45___ public broadcasting system is largely modeled after the system used in the United Kingdom , and Sveriges Television shares many traits with its British counterpart , the BBC . The Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo ( in ___MASK47___ : " Italian song festival of Sanremo ") is the most popular Italian song contest and awards , held annually in the city of Sanremo , in Italy , and consisting of a competition amongst previously unreleased songs . Usually referred to as Festival di Sanremo , or outside Italy as Sanremo Music Festival or Sanremo Music Festival Award , it was the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest . Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a sovereign state in Northern Europe . A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west , the country has land borders with Sweden to the northwest , Norway to the north , and ___MASK53___ to the east . Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland . Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia , which also includes Scandinavia . Finland ' s population is 5 . 5 million ( 2014 ), staying roughly on the same level over the past two decades . The majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region . In terms of area , it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union . Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden ( ___MASK45___ : ), is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe . It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east , and is connected to Denmark in the southwest by a bridge - tunnel across the Öresund . At , Sweden is the third - largest country in the European Union by area , with a total population of 10 . 0 million . Sweden consequently has a low population density of , with the highest concentration in the southern half of the country . Approximately 85 % of the population lives in urban areas . Norway (; ___MASK81___ : ( ___MASK82___ ) or ( Nynorsk ); Sami : " Norgga "), officially the Kingdom of Norway , is a sovereign and unitary monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula plus the island Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard . The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub - Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom . Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land . Until 1814 , the Kingdom included the Faroe Islands ( since 1035 ), Greenland ( 1261 ), and Iceland ( 1262 ). It also included Shetland and Orkney until 1468 . It also included the following provinces , now in Sweden : Jämtland , Härjedalen and Bohuslän . Björn Nils Olof Skifs ( born 20 April 1947 in Vansbro , Dalarna ) is a ___MASK45___ singer , songwriter , actor , and screenwriter . Melodifestivalen ( literally " The Melody Festival ") is an annual music competition organised by ___MASK45___ public broadcasters Sveriges Television ( SVT ) and Sveriges Radio ( SR ). It determines the country ' s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest , and has been staged almost every year since 1959 . Since 2000 , the competition has been the most popular television programme in Sweden ; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet . In 2012 , the semifinals averaged 3 . 3 million viewers , and over an estimated four million people in Sweden watched the final , almost half of the ___MASK45___ population . The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest . It was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris . The contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented ___MASK1___ with the song " A - Ba - Ni - Bi ". Although ' A - Ba - Ni - Bi ' is the correct title , ___MASK62___ television mistakenly captioned on screen the song title as ' Ah - Bah - Nee - Bee '. The presenters were Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone , and this was the first time more than one presenter hosted an edition of the Contest . Twenty countries participated , a record at the time . " Det blir alltid värre framåt natten " ( ___MASK47___ translation : " It Always Becomes Worse When the Night Comes ") was the ___MASK45___ entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 , performed in ___MASK45___ by Björn Skifs . Melodifestivalen 1978 was the selection for the 18th song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest . It was the 17th time that this system of picking a song had been used . 58 songs were submitted to SVT for the competition . The final was broadcast on TV1 but was not broadcast on radio . The songs were not performed live , instead the performances were recorded the afternoon before , and inter - mingled with live pieces from the venue . There was a tie in the voting , and each regional jury was asked to award one point to their favourite song of `` Det blir alltid värre framåt natten '' and `` Miss Decibel '' . The former won by eight votes to three . Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe . Although no definitive borders or definition exists for the term , geographically , Northern Europe may be considered to consist approximately of all of Europe above the 52nd parallel north ; which includes ( from west to east ) most or all of : Iceland , the Republic of Ireland , the Isle of Man , the United Kingdom , the Faroe Islands , the ___MASK9___ , northern Germany , Denmark , Norway , Sweden , northern Poland , Finland , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania and northwest ___MASK53___ . However , narrower definitions may also be used based on other geographical factors , such as climate and ecology . Greenland , geographically a part of North America , is politically a part of the Kingdom of Denmark , and may be included depending on the definition . The Eurovision Song Contest , sometimes popularly called Eurovision but not to be confused with the Eurovision network that broadcasts it , is the longest - running annual international TV song competition , held , primarily , among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union ( EBU ) since 1956 . The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951 . Sveriges Radio AB (" Radio Sweden ") is Sweden ' s national publicly funded radio broadcaster . The ___MASK45___ public - broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom , and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with its British counterpart , the BBC .