THE CHANNEL
|
ISSUE 2 2015
|
23
booth, to promote the brand and to
meet potential partners.
Our part-time distribution on the
main broadcasters gave us a good
basis to talk to smaller Pay-TV
operators – from Peru, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua –
which resulted in over 26 new
agreements, 24/7. Euronews
reaches almost 30m households in
Latin America.
Does putting blocks on national TV
make it harder to sell to 24/7 cable?
No, they are two different markets.
For pay-TV we sell the linear
channel which includes more news,
but in the 30 or 45 minute windows
of Euronews on the main channels
you get the news and various
magazine programmes, for
example on education or science.
If you compare Euronews with
BBC World News or CNN
International in Latin America, we
have a lack of brand recognition.
These windows give us the chance
to put our logo on the screen and
then open negotiations with
operators. The negotiations are
tough but no, having the national
TV windows does not stop us from
generating revenue.
Other channels are paying to be on
networks – how does that affect
the market?
To be honest, it ruins the market.
Some state-funded broadcasters
pay huge carriage fees to leading
platforms just to get on the basic
packages. It’s a tricky situation. We
try to explain that Euronews is not
a European channel in terms of
where the focus of our coverage is.
We cover European topics in depth
but we talk about world news. If
you look at our news segment
which lasts between 8 and 15
minutes depending on the time of
day, you will see it is really global.
Beyond news, we have a wide
range of magazine programmes
with very short pieces of two to five
minutes, covering topics like
science, environment,
entertainment, lifestyle. We are a
very balanced channel, bringing
you a news environment but also
infotainment. We definitely learn
about the world environment on
Euronews.
What does it take to convince
operators?
The feedback that we have – for
example from acquisition managers
working for operators – is first that
Euronews is a very objective
channel, showing a different way of
thinking about the world. You don’t
have the US polar view which
drives you in a certain direction.
Second, we have a wide range of
interesting magazine programmes,
and the multi-linguism is a very
important aspect. In Colombia,
with Claro, it is now important for
us to have Spanish, English, French
and Portuguese. In other countries
in Latin America, it’s Spanish in
particular.
What resources are you devoting
to Latin America?
We are trying to set up a network of
agents that we can trust. Colombia
is a main focus for us because we
consider that the market is still
growing. In Chile, VTR is a very
important platform. Essentially, we
are focusing on four or five
countries. We don’t pay carriage
fees, we are requesting revenues,
we have a lack of resources. So we
are trying to be very strategic and
focused.
Are the big platforms like Direct
TV open to approaches?
Not yet. With other competitors
like RT in the market it is difficult
for us to explain to Direct TV that
we want money. Also, we are still
standard definition. To get on
Direct TV in Latin America, you
need to be HD. We have to consider
that option. I am trying to work out
the best agenda considering the
huge cost that it involves. For us as
a news channel to be available in
HD [in Latin America] you also
need to be HD in Europe which is
our main market. Some second tier
platforms are not ready to acquire
HD content, and when they are,
they are only purchasing
entertainment and sport channels.
So it is a very tricky situation. We
will go HD at some point.
How does Latin America differ
from other markets?
Let’s look at the Southern African
countries. They have just started to
switch from analogue to digital and
this gives private companies the
chance to create new national
multiplexes. Chinese-owned
companies, Canal+ and all the main
competitors are involved in that. In
the African market, Euronews has
very good part-time distribution,
on local or national broadcasters.
Their content is 95% African but
they are also looking to acquire an
international perspective,
something different. But on the
main platform Euronews is not
talking African enough. An African
subscriber household living in
Africa wants African content, wants
to hear about what is happening in
Africa. So this area of the world
offers an opportunity to take a
strategic position for the future and
that is the reason why we decided
“
The fewer
leading
platforms
you have
themore
complex it
will get
”
GLoBAL CHANNELS
|
THE CHANNEL
t
t
Plaza Bolívar,
Bogota
t
Science and
technology
covered in
Futuris
on Euronews
