MEPs offered first glimpse of Euro channel

Date: 02/05/1996

MEPs will receive a preview next week of the planned output of a new pan-European public affairs television channel.

The Citizens Channel aims to begin broadcasting a daily nine-hour diet of programmes on all aspects of the EU from next year. The satellite service will be distributed locally by cable and will be available to viewers in the Union and Central and Eastern Europe.

MEPs gave the go-ahead last year for a 900,000-ecu pilot project to produce an illustrative nine-hour day in the Union. When they meet in Brussels on 8 May, they will have their first glimpse of the range of programmes the channel plans to offer a wider audience.

“We will give priority to the Parliament's plenary sessions, Commission press conferences, public sessions of the Council and judgements from the European Court of Justice. We will build around that interviews and panel discussions and look at the work of other EU bodies such as the contribution the European Investment Bank makes to regional development,” explains Bob Molenaar, president of the Association for European Public Information by Television (EPITEL) - an association of non-profit organisations behind the Citizens Channel venture.

Supporters of the initiative want to link it to a network of national parliamentary channels and to broadcast other major EU events from the Council of Europe, the Western European Union and NATO. Initially, programmes will be in English, French and German, although other languages are expected to be added later.

Inspiration for the venture came from the American cable channel C-Span, whose coverage of US politics and public affairs pulls in 60 million viewers. The two channels intend to exchange some of their material so that audiences on both continents can follow political developments on either side of the Atlantic.