“France 3” will not organize a televised final this year. The decision was made following the very disappointing results of the last three years selections in terms of audience. The prime-time shows had an average of 10 or 12% of the viewers watching them, which is certainly half of the usual figure on the same channel for a Tuesday evening.

For year's strategy, Bruno Berberes, French Head of Delegation, declares that "France 3" is now considering a famous artist to represent the country. Negociations are on their way.

The reason for this change in strategy is two-fold: to make the audience for the Eurovision Song Contest bigger; and to make it possiblefor a well-known artist to accept the invitation. "Famous people have not been willing to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for a long time now, so the one who will accept should have a complete freedom in the choice of the song" M. Berberes told esctoday.com.

It is hoped that by attracting a famous and popular artist for 2008, it will kickstart French interest in the Eurovision Song Contest. The strategy for the 2007 national final was to infuse youth and revigorate interest in the competition from the French viewing audience. The poor result of France in Helsinki meant a return to the drawing board.

No names have been given yet. “The final decision decision will be taken in February and made public by the beginning of March” esctoday.com has been told. Early speculation has included the names of Tina Arena and Mylene Farmer but France Television is giving away no clues at this stage.