Despite the promising news of the return of Montenegro hinting at a record-breaking 44 entries for Eurovision 2012 (even though we have yet to hear confirmation from Armenia…and who knows what’s going on in Slovakia…), the ESC community got the news today that Polish broadcaster TVP would not be sending a representative to Baku.  As the network is focusing time and resources on 2012’s Olympic coverage, as well as that of the European Football Championship (being co-hosted in Poland and Ukraine), the ESC sadly is sent to the back-burner for this year.  However, this does not mean that Poland will be permanently out of the Contest, nor does it mean that they’ve ruled out the idea of broadcasting the show in a non-participatory capacity.

Poland has suffered from pretty mixed fortunes at Eurovision; they entered the contest with a bang in 1994, coming in second with Edyta Górniak’s “To Nie Ja“.  However, their results have dipped in recent years, having only qualified for the Finals once (twice, if you count their automatic qualification in 2004), and bringing up the rear on the scoring table during this year’s First Semifinal.  While fans are sad to see TVP take a hiatus, I think most of us are hopeful that they’ll return to the Contest in fighting form in 2013.

Until then, here’s Poland’s last Eurovision performance, Magdalena Tul’s “Jestem”: