Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest

Monaco is the only country that has won the contest but has never organised it. After winning in 1971, the country planned to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show, setting the date in June rather than early spring.[11] However, due to a lack of funding, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, which accepted to organise the contest. Because TMC wanted the contest to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never came through. Because of this, Monaco deferred the decision to the EBU.[12] The EBU asked Spain and Germany, which respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but both countries declined to host the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh.[11]

Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004 to 2006. During its three-year return, all the artists representing the country, Maryon (2004), Lise Darly (2005) and Séverine Ferrer (2006), failed to qualify for the final. TMC broadcast the 2007 contest, making the country eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but TMC decided against it.[13][14]

TMC had announced that it was possible Monaco would return to the contest in 2009 after a two-year absence, following talks with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), as well as new voting measures implemented in the contest that year.[15] Despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009.[16] The EBU announced they would work harder to bring Monaco back into the contest in 2010 alongside other lapsed participants.

The former head of the Monégasque delegation Philippe Boscagli accused certain countries of geopolitical voting, alleging the existence of Eastern European, Nordic and Old European voting blocs, henceforth hindering Monaco's chances for qualification. With regards to the non-qualification of the Monégasque entry in 2006, "La Coco-Dance", he claimed that the audience voted more for the show than the song. Furthermore, TMC is now part of the TF1 Group, the leading private broadcaster in France, and is now available everywhere in France. TMC programs no longer revolve around the principality. As TF1 Group is the biggest competitor to the French public channels, it is unlikely that TMC would again broadcast the contest. When TMC did so between 2004 and 2006, its audience was much smaller than the one of the French public channel. In those years, it was the government and the municipality of Monaco who chose the contestant and funded the delegation, while it is usually the responsibility of a broadcaster or a producer.[17]

On 22 November 2021, L'Observateur de Monaco reported that 100,000 Euros have been allocated towards "initiating the application of the Principality to the Eurovision 2023 competition" in the state budget for 2022.[18] Monaco’s potential return to the contest would have required co-operation between the Monégasque government and broadcaster TMC which is owned by France's TF1 Group,[19] however, in December 2021, the Monégasque government announced the launch of a new national public broadcaster, TVMonaco, which would be fully owned by the government, opening up a possibility of Monaco returning to the contest under the sponsorship of the Monégasque government starting in 2023.[20] However, the channel's launch was later delayed to 1 September 2023.[21][22] Upon its launch, TVMonaco became a member of Monaco Media Diffusion, the broadcasting company which represents Monaco in the EBU, meaning that the country is, starting in 2024, once again eligible to participate in Eurovision events.[23][24] However, TVMonaco decided against taking part in the 2024 contest.[25] The broadcaster's editor-in-chief, Frédéric Cauderlier, ascribed the decision to the tight deadline and to being forced to concentrate on other matters in the early stages of the launch.[26]

From 1959 to 1970, Monaco did not have its own commentators in the festival, Télé Monte Carlo used French commentary instead (RTF 1959–1964 and ORTF 1965–1970). From 1971 to 1979, and between 2004 and 2006, TMC broadcast the contest with its own commentators, but they were French. As TMC had been available in the southeast of France since the 1980s and by digital terrestrial television throughout the country since 2005, the French audience was able to watch the contest on both France 3 and TMC in 2004, 2005 and 2006 (the semi-final of 2004 was shown only on TMC).