Wednesday October 27th, 2010 at 19:30 CET, euronews launches in Persian, broadcasting 24/7, (www.euronews.net website will launch it on Wednesday October 20th, 2010 at 19:30 CET).
euronews will now be transmitted in 10 different versions. With this new addition of the Persian service, 3 milliard people will now be able to understand euronews. This is equivalent to 44% of the worlds population.
A week ahead of the official TV launch, Persian euronews will be available on the internet site: www.euronews.net on October 20th, 2010 at 19:30 CET (21:00 Tehran).
This launch follows euronews successful bid for a competitive call for tender from the European Union on December 21st, 2009, in Brussels. The channel and the European Commission signed a service agreement to extend the channels programming to include Persian.
Persian is spoken by 126.5 million people in the world. It is an official language in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan but it is also commonly spoken in Bahrain, Uzbekistan and other regions of the world.
The addition of this 10th version represents a very important step for euronews on its multilingual strategy — A strategy that has proven successful in term of audience in Europe, Middle East and Africa, with the channel developing in all areas.
With the Persian language as part of its repertoire, euronews will increase its audience in central and western Asia. The channel can now offer its unique brand of news and information, in all its forms, to a whole new audience. It will also offer the Persian diaspora in Europe, the Middle East and the greater Mediterranean area, a deeper insight to European affairs.
Along with Turkish and Arabic, Persian allows euronews to be broadcast in the three major languages of North Africa and Middle East. It also enhances euronews reputation as a platform for intercultural dialogue in Europe and the Mediterranean.
To accomplish this mission, euronews has recruited 17 Persian speaking journalists who have been integrated into our broadcast operations in our Lyon headquarters over the past few months. During this period the newcomers have been acclimatizing to euronews systems of production and editorial values, and getting used to working with the nine language teams (Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish).
From its launch, Persian euronews will be immediately available on five satellites from its distribution network. It will also be commercialized on covered distribution zones: Europe, Mediterranean, Middle East, and Asia. Satellites: Eutelsat, Hot Bird 6, Arabsat Bad-4, Nilesat 101, Asiasat 5 and Eurobird 1 (which will be launched at the end of 2010). This presence will allow 71 million homes to follow euronews.