Watching the Eurovision Song Contest final used to be a challenge for people in the United States, but things have gotten a lot easier in the last decade. After some fluctuations, Eurovision seems to have found a stable home with the streaming platform Peacock. Even better, this year viewers can also watch the live proceedings, starting Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern, on the contest’s official YouTube channel, which carries the international feed.

Hardcore fans know to turn to the BBC broadcast, because comedian and broadcaster Graham Norton commentates during the final, and his often withering bon mots have acquired a following of their own.

Paradoxically, it will be much harder for some steadfast Eurovision countries to watch the 2026 edition. Ireland, Slovenia and Spain withdrew from the contest in protest over the inclusion of Israel despite its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, and the public broadcasters from those countries have said that they will not air the competition either. (Iceland and the Netherlands also withdrew from the contest but are still airing it.)

This is quite a move from two stalwart participants: Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, and Spain is a member of the so-called Big Five — the countries that are automatically in the final because they are major financial contributors to the contest’s organizing entity, the European Broadcasting Union.

Instead of showing the final, during that spot, Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTE, will show “A Song of Europe,” an episode of the classic sitcom “Father Ted” in which the title character and fellow priest Father Dougal McGuire try to enter a Eurovision-like competition with a song titled “My Lovely Horse.” Although support for Palestinians is widespread in Ireland, “Father Ted” co-creator Graham Linehan has denounced the airing of the show during Eurovision as “a tool of antisemitic harassment.”

Slovenian broadcaster RTV will show the thematic series “Voices of Palestine” at the time of the final.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli/Ilvy Njiokiktjien
c. 2026 The New York Times Company