According to the Dutch newsprogramme for children het Jeugdjournaal, there's a big chance France will be represented again at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007, which will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Despite reports of a fall in viewing figures in 2006, confirmed interest from four other countries to join the competition for the 2007 edition shows that the competition seems to be gaining in strength.

After the 2005 contest, the popularity of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest seemed to decline. Only 15 countries took part last Saturday in Bucharest. However, France has announced they might return to the 5th contest.

On the other hand, some sites already confirmedthat the United Kingdomwill be back as well in 2007. However, this is premature. There are still some obstacles to overcome before ITV are able to rejoin the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Firstly, there is a problem of timing. It would seem almost certain that the broadcaster would not air the showdirectly against X-Factor, it's most commercially successful show of the year, which is scheduled for next year's fall. This seems to be the real reason for withdrawing from the contest this year.

A possible return of theUnited Kingdomwould meanmoving Junior Eurovision Song Contest to either before the start of October or after Christmas. However, the 2007 event will take place on the 8th of December! ITV does have a new chairman, with Michael Grade, from the entertainment side of the company replacing the former chairman from the finance side,and there is certainly an increased chance of the United Kingdom returning, but no official announcement is likelybefore the turn of the year.

It has been reported that Lithuania will definitely be represented next year! Also Bosnia and Herzegovina has paid interest in taking part, broadcasting this year's show. Hopefully the growing interest of countries will make the 2007 competition a success. Dutch broadcaster AVRO need it, having seen theirviewing figuresin the Netherlands decrease for thethird year in a row: Only 739,000 Dutch viewers watched the contest, amarket share of 10.6%.Nevertheless, theinterest for 2007 is certain to be higher as the nation tunes in to seethe first Eurovision Song Contest broadcast from the Netherlands in 27 years.

esctoday.com also understands that it seems unlikely that Croatia or Malta will return to the competition next year, although no official statement has been received from either country. Malta haveachieved poor results and seem keen to withdraw, whilst Croatian broadcaster HRT broke the rules of the competition this year by not broadcasting the show on their terrestrial channel. They now face an investigation by the steering committee for the competition and could be banned from participating due to their actions. The fact that the broadcaster refused to broadcast the show live on a main channel is also further proof of their lack of interest in remaining in the competition.