Fredrik Arefalk, head of commissioning on TV4, confirms to partner site Escsweden.com that TV4 will indeed pull out of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since the contest began in 2003.
TV4 has totally diffferent plans for their schedule at the end of November, says Fredrik Arefalk, head of commissioning on TV4, claiming that this is the main reason for abandoning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in which Sweden has been one of the first countries to participate in. On the other hand it is possible that the dramatic drop in this year's viewing figures has also played a part in the broadcaster's decision. About a million viewers tuned in to watch JESC in 2005 but 2007 saw a 50% drop in the number, with only half a million viewers watching.
TV4 took over Junior Eurovision from SVT in 2006 and it was then that Sweden achieved their best result, placing third with Molly Sanden. Parallel to Junior Eurovision, Sweden also participates together with Norway, Finland and Denmark in the Nordic equivalent of the Junior Contest, to be held in Århus, Denmark, on 29th November this year.
