EuroparlTV costs 60,000 Euros per hour

German tech news site Heise.de reports that the online TV of the European Parliament (criticised from the beginning) - EuroparlTV - has had only 150,000 visitors so far, less than 40,000 per month.

That's not very much, taking into account that according to Austrian calculations one hour of broadcasting costs 60,000 Euros.

How to solve this problem? EuroparlTV has already decided: They will spend more money on a marketing campaign...


Read also: Oh what a turn off by Bruno Waterfield (17 February 2009)

European Parliament web TV: Critics speaking (updated)

After two days of broadcasting, the European Parliament web TV is receiving respect but also critique.

One Brussels journalist, who did not wish to be named, said that he was worried that the company responsible for the content, Brussels-based Mostra, was the same company that produces much of the European Commission's multimedia promotional material.

I share this view, but I think that it should be the task of the Parliament, and especially its members, to closely follow the reporting of "their" web television. They are democratically elected, and they should be aware of the messages that are spread in their names.

To ensure that Europarl TV serves "public rather than state propaganda interests," said Mr White [that is, Aidan White, the general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists; JF], the channel should mirror the oversight structure of other government-funded public television services such as the BBC and institute independent administration of Europarl TV "to stop there from being political interference with news gathering."

For me, this is a contradiction. Having a parliament television provided by the parliament itself that functions without political interference is completely irrealistic. I would rather expect them to highlighten the political interference that this "television" is confronted with instead of hiding it behind self-proclaimed objectivity.

The "real" media should use the material provided by the parliament TV, analyse it and present it to the public in a balanced, evaluated and more generalised manner. This is their task, and this is what I expect from them. And if this worked, we would be quite well off, I suppose.

Read also:

- Nosemonkey's article
- Jon Worth's article
- Brussels Media's article

European Parliament web TV from tomorrow

From tomorrow, the European Parliament will have its own web TV.

The site will be http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/.

It is not accessible by now. Let's see from tomorrow, what we will get. I am looking forward for live coverages of the ceiling falling down, background information on lobbyist talks, familiy members of parliamentarians employed in the EP reporting about their salaries, and travel experiences between Bruxelles and Strasbourg.

And, what kind of advertising we will see? German car companies, French farmers, the Catholic Church of Poland, and Finnish public schools attracting British bording school pupils? In 21 languages and two alphabets.

Oh yeah, I am looking forward to the EU parliament web TV.


Update:

- European Parliament web TV: First critics