The running order for the finals is known, I will add it to the OP when I have the time.
I do feel like the EBU is gearing themselves up for a "Globovision", perhaps for the 65th Eurovision in 2020, where they'll have like, 10 guest countries and 3 semi-finals (Canada, USA, Japan, South Korea, India, South Africa, Brazil, China, Malaysia and Chile?). Jon Ola Sand has spoken of the competition widening for some time, and having guest nations. With countries dropping out, and other countries from further away wanting to get in, it seems like a larger one-off event would be a good way to test this out.
Well there have been Asiavisions that have taken place since 2012 (though not exactly the same format).
That said, as I mentioned before in this thread, a few things to consider:
In 2015, there were delegations from several countries that visited the contest in Vienna (Morocco, Tunisia, Kazakhstan and Kosovo).
Morocco and Tunisia are EBU members, and have a standing invitation every year. There's also the fact that there have been a few Arabic countries that lifted the ban on broadcasting Israeli content, which is why Lebanon, who attempted to participate in 2005, is considered a potential future candidate too.
If Israel's broadcaster gets kicked out of the EBU for failing to meet content requirements, I can see several of the Arabic nations deciding to participate (again), with that trio in particular.
Kazakhstan is an associate EBU member, and while the current Eurovision ruleset does not include all the details about eligible participants, before the overhaul of eurovision.tv, the ruleset specifically mentioned that associate EBU members are allowed to participate if the ESC council decides for it on a case by case base (hence Australia's continued participation as well).
Kosovo has been wanting to join EBU for a while, and EBU also has stated that they are in favour of the Kosovar broadcaster to become a member of the EBU, though there's still debate going on given Kosovo's political situation.
And of course, after the successful participation of Australia in 2015, there also have been talks between China and EBU, which likely also included a potential participation of China in Eurovision.
Also, EBU has been attempting to court Luxembourg back into the contest for years now, and recently there was a change in management at RTL, the new head is apparently pro-ESC.
Finally, there's the matter of potential repercussions for Russia and Ukraine coming from EBU for that obvious political provocation in regards to the Russian selection. It seems like EBU is siding with Russia over Ukraine in the issue, which means there could be a disqualification for Ukraine next year on the cards.
It's going to be a turbulent year for the song contest, especially if EBU is trying to bring in more countries.
