Cyprus is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. The Cypriot national broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) originally intended to select its entrant through the fifth season of the reality show Fame Story, produced in collaboration with the Greek channel Star. However, this plan was later cancelled after the national broadcaster ERT raised objections to the Cypriot selection process being aired in Greece by another broadcaster, and CyBC ultimately reverted to an internal selection for its entrant, which was later revealed to be Silia Kapsis.
Background
Prior to the 2024 contest, Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 39 times since the island country made its debut in the . Its best placing was at the where Eleni Foureira placed second with "". Before that, Cyprus's best result was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the with the song "" performed by Anna Vissi, in the with "" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the with "Stronger Every Minute" performed by Lisa Andreas. Cyprus' least successful result was in the when it placed last with the song "" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the with "" by Marlain Angelidou, receiving only two points. After returning to the contest in following their absence in due to the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and the broadcaster's budget restrictions, Cyprus has qualified for the final of all the contests except in , when "" performed by Andromache failed to advance from the semi-finals. In , "Break a Broken Heart" performed by Andrew Lambrou qualified for the final, where it placed 12th.
The Cypriot national broadcaster, CyBC, broadcasts the contest within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select its entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. Since 2016, the broadcaster has opted to select the entry internally without input from the public.
Originally devised plans for 2023 included the selection of the Cypriot artist through a Greek-Cypriot talent show based on the British reality television music competition All Together Now. However, the broadcaster later decided to stick to an internal selection, and deferred consideration of a national final for 2024. In May 2023, Fame Story, the Greek version of the talent show Star Academy originally aired between 2002 and 2006 on ANT1, was announced to return on CyBC in order to be used as its national final for 2024.
Before Eurovision
National final dispute
CyBC initially intended to use the fifth season of the Greek talent show Fame Story to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. The show, filmed at the Star Channel studios in Greece, would have aired in Cyprus on CyBC. However, in late July 2023, the Greek public broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the exclusive owner of the rights to Eurovision events in Greece, filed a complaint to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), claiming that the Cypriot national final being aired in Greece through a different broadcaster would be an infringement of the contest's rules; ERT reportedly threatened to withdraw from the union if no action was taken.
In early August 2023, it was reported that the EBU had amended the contest's rules at the request of ERT, specifying that "each national selection of a representative for Eurovision should be undertaken and organised under the exclusive control of each participating broadcaster" and that "the organisation and production may not be subcontracted, except with the prior approval of the EBU". Asked to clarify its intentions for Fame Story in view of the new rules, CyBC reportedly responded that the Cypriot entrant would be internally selected in January 2024 from emerging artists in the national music industry, including Fame Story participants, and that this did not qualify the format as a national final. Instead, that same month a show would be aired from Nicosia, where the selected entrant would perform a number of songs among which the public would be called to choose. It was reported that the EBU would host a video conference on 7 August 2023 in order to reach an agreement between CyBC and ERT.