Country Contest 6

Semi-final 1 date
 Semi-final 2 date
 Final date
 Venue
 Number of entries
 Debuting countries
 Voting system

The **Country Contest 5** will be the fifth edition of the contest. It was the second country contest to take place after the "big revamp". This edition will feature a new bidding process to determine the host country, as well as allowing countries from the entire world (as 'guests'). This was decided after interest from other countries was found, thus bringing this topic in the meeting. The contest formerly only allowed broadcasters/countries from the CCU, which is mostly consisted of European and a few Eurasian countries, including Israel. The name of the contest led the decision as it should welcome all members, including associate. Each edition, the CCU will invite two special guests into the competition, but in the case that the country wins; the nation will be allowed to defend its title (also bringing the guest count to 3).

## Bidding process

**Note:** UK was automatically qualified to the competition on 5 June 2016, but after withdrawing its bid in the last moment (when UK & US were remaining), the country's autoqualification spot was removed, allowing 7 wildcards. UK did not place in the Top 7 of previous edition thus would require to get its spot by wildcards.

## Eligible nations

1. Albania – Declined
2. Andorra – No comment
3. Austria – No comment
4. Belarus – No comment
5. Belgium – No comment (failed to win hosting bid, flop in previous edition)
6. Bosnia–Herzegovina – Decided to withdraw due to result failure.
7. Bulgaria – Confirmed the nations debut.
8. Croatia – No comment
9. Czech Republic – CT announced that they would likely return in the 7th edition.
10. Denmark – Applauded SVT's decision and confirmed that no participation would be made soon.
11. Estonia – No comment
12. Finland – No comment
13. France – (Host country)
14. Georgia – No comment
15. Germany – The country decided to remain in the competition due to the high ratings.
16. Greece – Confirmed its comeback.
17. Hungary – No comment
18. Iceland – Confirmed its participation after the successful 2nd place.
19. Ireland – RTE confirmed Ireland's comeback to the competition.
20. Italy – Confirmed its participation.
21. Latvia – No comment
22. Liechtenstein – Declined due to lack of funding.
23. Lithuania – No comment
24. Luxembourg – (Reigning champion)
25. Macedonia – Announced its withdrawal after failing to qualify.
26. Malta – After last appearing in #2, TVM decided to return.
27. Moldova – Moldova announced its 'permanent withdrawal' after failing to qualify last edition.
28. Monaco – The nation decided to return to the contest after last appearing in #1.
29. Montenegro – Despite a new low result, Montenegro opted to continue participating.
30. Netherlands – The country confirmed its withdrawal after placing last in #5.
31. Norway – NRK declined to participate, stating that 'SVT has finally done the right decision.'
32. Poland – TVP declined to participate due to having 'other priorities'.
33. Portugal – The nation has decided to return to the contest after last participating in #2.
34. Romania – TVR decided to take a break from the contest due to lack of high results.
35. Russia – Despite achieving its worst result, Russia confirmed participation.
36. San Marino – SMRTV decided to continue participating, one of the factors being the high interest in the country.
37. Serbia – Despite not qualifying, Serbia decided to remain in the contest and participate.
38. Slovakia – After an okay 15th place, the country decided to participate again.
39. Slovenia – The nation decided to withdraw due to lack of interest and sponsors.
40. Spain – TVE confirmed Spain's participation after its successful 6th place and 1st in its respective semi-final.
41. Sweden – For the first time in Sweden's history, SVT decided to withdraw due to its failure to qualify.
42. Switzerland – SRG SSR confirmed the nations participation after achieving 5th place.
43. Ukraine – NTU announced that Ukraine would take a break from the contest due to its qualification failure; 'hoping to make a successful return in the future'.
44. United Kingdom – BBC announced that UK would participate, solely due to the 2nd place in its semi-final. However, ratings did bump up by 1 million since last broadcast.
45. Israel – After placing 3rd in the fifth edition, IBA confirmed that Israel would participate.
46. Azerbaijan – Confirmed
47. Kazakhstan – Withdrew due to bad results.
48. Morocco – Confirmed participation after achieving best result last edition.
49. Lebanon – On 30 June, it was announced that Lebanon's participation was in doubt. It was later confirmed that Lebanon
50. Egypt – Announced no intentions to participate, along with many Arabic countries on 30 June.
51. Algeria – Announced no intentions to participate, along with many Arabic countries on 30 June.
52. Jordan – Announced no intentions to participate, along with many Arabic countries on 30 June.
53. Libya – Announced no intentions to participate, along with many Arabic countries on 30 June.
54. Tunisia – Announced no intentions to participate, along with many Arabic countries on 30 June.
55. Guest country 1
56. Guest country 2