Assembly seeks funding for web-based TV service

The European Parliament will next week ask for funding to launch its web-based broadcasting service before the end of the year. European Parliament Vice-President Roca Vidal-Quadras will ask members of the budgets committee for just under €1 million to fund a pilot phase of the WebTV project which will carry live streaming of Parliament's plenary sessions and committee meetings as well as special programmes on the assembly's activities.

It is aimed at citizens and at bypassing traditional broadcast media.

The project has already been approved by the Parliament's bureau, the assembly's president and vice-presidents, who deal with administrative matters, but MEPs on the budgets committee need to agree to release the funding for the service to start operating.

The Parliament has already published a call for tender to companies to design and set up the architecture for the service as well as providing content. MEPs will assess proposals from companies on additional materials to be supplied over the internet.

The successful bidder will receive a contract worth just under €1m for the pilot phase of the project. If this is considered successful by the Parliament, there will be a second online phase, probably next year.

At the moment coverage of plenary sessions is streamed live on the Parliament's website and there are plans to add Parliamentary committee meetings once cameras and other technical equipment have been installed.

The new service will also carry a range of other products including video news releases and other special programmes.

• The Council of Ministers is next week to begin videostreaming on the internet of ministerial meetings, starting with Tuesday's (11 July) gathering of finance ministers. Initially, because of a shortage of the necessary equipment, the trial service will be in five languages, English, French German, Italian and Spanish. The service will become fully operat-ional after the summer when all 20 official EU languages will be available. Items to be streamed from the Ecofin Council include the presentation of the Finnish presidency's programme, a debate on the European Invest-ment Bank and the post-Council press conference. If there are decisions to be adopted without debate, they too will be videostreamed.

The decision of last month's European Council to open up more of Council proceedings to public view takes effect immediately from 1 July, even though formal adoption of the regulation will not happen until September.

The European Parliament will next week ask for funding to launch its web-based broadcasting service before the end of the year. European Parliament Vice-President Roca Vidal-Quadras will ask members of the budgets committee for just under €1 million to fund a pilot phase of the WebTV project which will carry live streaming of Parliament's plenary sessions and committee meetings as well as special programmes on the assembly's activities.