Providing a European focus to news, the popular euronews can be found on pay-TV platforms around the world. However, the rules of the broadcast landscape have changed, raising a number of new challenges for broadcasters. euronews is no exception, and as users seek 24-hour access to news across a range of platforms and devices, the broadcaster is looking at how to adapt to this changing multi-faceting broadcast environment. IBC e-Daily spoke with euronews Managing Director Michael Peters about this effort.

IBC e-Daily: How difficult is it for broadcasters to come up with multi-faceted content delivery strategy?

Peters: First, you need to have the content. Having so many video-on-demand programs is a very strategic thing for us. But today, having the content is not enough. There is a crucial question of branding. You have to exist within these new universes. We know that everybody can access to the same content. To attract people to your content rather than others, it is about positioning and branding. Therefore, when you go those new audiences, like mobile for example, you have to realize they consume the content differently than a traditional TV audience. The mobile user wants to interact and to share the content with the media he consumes. This audience needs to embrace your vision of how you deliver the content. Then, they will stay with you.

IBC e-Daily: How successful has euronews been in providing content to alternative platforms?

Peters: We have discovered that putting euronews on different multimedia platforms is easy for us, because there is no extra work to be done. We just take our video and make it available for consumption on different new media. We think we can have great success here, and we believe we have a competitive advantage over others here. We already have many deals with mobile operators and Web platforms like Google and YouTube. With YouTube, we have developed a very strong channel called No Comment TV. It is far ahead of the equivalent channels from BBC and CNN, and this shows that the format of euronews can be adapted very easily to lot of platforms.

IBC e-Daily: How will being on these new platforms benefit euronews?

Peters: Being present on YouTube helps us in a number of ways. The content is available free. So why are we doing it? Ultimately, we think there is strong potential to make money in the future. In addition, some Web communities are complementary to what we are doing now on TV. Effectively, the YouTube community is different from the people who are watching us on TV. It complements what we are doing, so we can reach different types of people. We are looking to have deals with specialized Web sites, so for example, we could strike a deal with a science-based Web site and have our science programs made available to that community. We can make a partnership with them to attract a niche market to our content.

IBC e-Daily: What are your plans in terms of high-definition (HD) content?

Peters: In Europe, we believed that there is not a huge demand for news in HD, as the initial demand was for sports and movies. Of course, we were wrong, and everyone will have to move to HD. As you can imagine, for that you need to make a lot of investment. Today we are making technical investments to be HD-ready in order to move to HD. I think it could be in two or three years. Frankly, it is not a short-term deal for us. We do not believe there is a big urgency right now. Nevertheless, it will depend on the evolution of the market in Europe. If it will become more urgent, of course, we will react earlier.

IBC e-Daily: What new initiatives does the euronews have planned in terms of content delivery?

Peters: We will try to create strong partnerships with very dedicated and specific partners in terms of new media. And as the question of positioning your content, and making sure you are reaching the right communities is very important, we will reinforce our brand. Whether it is through an Orange mobile phone, YouTube, Yahoo, Google, ADSL, you need to make sure that your content is available and that it’s tailored for the specific community. You need to explain to your audience your story. It is why we will build new partnerships and explore UGS (user-generated content) universe. I think in the future, people will hear you if you can hear them. People want to get more involved in content creation. Our strategy is to launch many UGC projects, but we will not do that like the others. With the help of partners, we will develop some dedicated UGC platforms in order to provide the content that people want, the way they want it. There is a huge difference between old and new media. Viewers and users do not judge the same way the media. Here, Old media strategies do not work now.

IBC e-Daily: What trends do you see emerging on the European broadcast landscape as we head into IBC this year?

Peters: I think that we will move towards a one-screen type strategy. The question will be where and when do I watch the content? There are many places where you can access content, such as at work, travelling to and from work, the living room, etcetera. I think that at the end, having IPTV, cable or satellite won’t matter so much for the final consumer. You can link the content to where you want to watch it. You can receive content through ADSL that you put directly through your PC, and you can then link it with a TV in your living room. So where the content originates from won’t matter and in the future. The problem for the consumer will not be the technology. It will be about having the flexibility of watching the content they want at particular times and places during the day. It is about catering for different viewing needs during the day. This is the challenge for all content providers to offer different versions of content during the day.