EURONEWS

'EuroNews' is a multilingual and pan-European television news channel launched on January 1 1993. It covers world news from a European perspective^[1], in many languages.
In the fourth quarter of 2005 ''EuroNews'' was distributed to 193 million households in 121 countries worldwide. It reached more than 167 million European households by cable, satellite and terrestrial. This compared with 119 million European households for CNN International, 73 million for BBC World and 69 million for CNBC Europe. [1] [2]
''EuroNews'' uses voice-over narration to accompany all news footage save for live coverage, and features a "No Comment" segment dedicated to reports which exclusively consist of visual content.
Selected by the European Commission for a "''mission of European information''"^[2] from amongst seven candidates, ''EuroNews'' produces and broadcasts news programs simultaneously in several languages on issues that pertain both to the European Union as to the world. The channel receives €5 million of funding each year, and 10% or more of its production must consist of information and debates which are directly related to issues regarding the European Union.² The channel also devoted a significant amount of attention to EU related subjects prior to receiving this mandate due to its pan-European television network formation.

Contents

Content

History and organization

Criticism

Programs

References

See also

External links

Content

As a rolling news channel, headlines from both Europe as well as the world are broadcast at 30 minute intervals on ''EuroNews''. Brief magazine articles typically fill in the remaining schedule, which focus on market data, financial news, sports news, art & culture, science, weather, European politics and press reviews of the major European newspapers. These item slots will occasionally be displaced for breaking news or live coverages.
''EuroNews'' is currently broadcast in seven languages; English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, however not all languages are available in all countries. This multilingual approach prevents the use of on screen anchors, leading ''EuroNews'' to use voice-over narration to accompany its news footage. An optional and "silent" audio stream without this voice-over is additionally broadcast with some ''EuroNews'' transmissions. Some items are displayed without commentary under the banner "No Comment", a segment which reports exclusively through visual footage.

History and organization

''EuroNews'' was originally founded in 1992 in Lyon as a European Broadcasting Union initiative by a group of 11 European public broadcasters:

★ CYBC

★ ERT

★ France Télévisions

★ RAI

★ RTBF

★ RTP

★ RTÉ

★ RTVE

★ TMC

★ YLE
It began broadcasting from Lyon on January 1, 1993.
In 1997, the British news broadcaster ITN bought 49% share of ''Euronews'' for £5.1m from Alcatel-Alsthom. ITN supplies the content of the channel along with the remaining shareholders, which are represented by the SOCEMIE (Société Editrice de la Chaîne Européenne Multilingue d’Information EuroNews) consortium^[3]. SOCEMIE is the actual operating company which produces the channel and holds the broadcasting licence. It is co-owned by the founders and:

★ CT

★ PBS

★ RTVSLO

★ RTR

★ NTU

★ SRG-SSR

★ TVR

★ TV4 (Stake holder)
The broadcast switched from solely analogue to mainly digital transmission in 1999. In the same year the Portuguese audio track was added. The Russian audio track appeared in 2001.
As of late November 2005, German TV channels ARD and ZDF were in negotiations about joining ''Euronews''. [3]
On February 6 2006, Ukrainian public broadcaster Natsionalna Telekompanya Ukraïny (NTU) bought a 1% stake in SOCEMIE. [4]
''EuroNews'' recently expanded into Romania with a 30-minute Romanian-language newscast on Romanian second channel TVR 2, on weekdays at 9:15 AM.

Criticism

In a study conducted by Gallup Europe in 2004, respondents described ''EuroNews'' as "boring" as well as "monotonous, slow, repetitive" and criticised the scarcity of breaking news coverage on the channel. [5]

Programs

Programs on ''EuroNews'' include:

★ 'News' - Covering the top European and international news stories

★ 'Press Review' - A look at the front pages of various European titles every morning

★ 'Economia' - Financial news

★ 'Markets' - News on the world stock markets and commodity prices

★ 'Headlines' - A brief overview of the main news stories

★ 'Europa' - Covering European affairs

★ 'Sport' - Top sports stories

★ 'No Comment' - Short video(s) with no narrator

★ 'Meteo/World Weather' - International weather forecasting

★ 'Interview' - An interview with a noted individual

★ 'Europeans' - A look at the lives of European citizenry

★ 'Mediterraneans' - A look at the lives of European citizenry living around the Mediterranean Sea

★ 'Pass' - General information about EU matters

★ 'Europinion' - European continuous tracking survey

★ 'Le Mag' - Covering the arts, music, fashion, travel and culture

★ 'Cinema' - Recent films and movies

★ 'Comment' - Interactive comment of EU citizenry regarding key issues

★ 'Space' - A look at space technology

★ 'Hi Tech' - Focusing on science and technology studies

★ 'Futuris' - Focusing on futuristic technologies and theories

★ 'Terra Viva' - Stories related to the environment

★ 'Agenda' - Current cultural events in Europe

★ 'Parlamento' - News about the European Union Parliament

★ 'Perspectives' - Covers how different European channels broadcast current affairs

References

1. Many Voices One Vision
2. What is EuroNews?
3.

See also

★ Eurosport

★ International broadcasting

★ France 24

★ Deutsche Welle

★ Russia Today

External links

★ Official Site