EuroNews Chairman and CEO Philippe Cayla believes there are still plenty of opportunities for the pan-European news channel to gain presence on direct-to-home (DTH) platforms across the world. Its next deal is likely to be with Dish TV in India. As for the opportunities for the channel, Cayla exclusively told Satellite News International Editor Mark Holmes, “In terms of gaining presence on new DTH platforms, the first target is to gain on Dish TV in India. We are in the process of striking a deal there. I think we will start very soon with Dish TV. There are also plenty of other platforms for us to target in this area. There may be another 10-20 platforms for us to target.”

EuroNews is one of the most successful new channels. It trades on the fact it is pan-European and that it can offer the news in seven different European languages, which makes it very appealing to Europeans working abroad or people who want news with a pan-European focus.

The channel is also working hard on boosting its distribution across the world. This week, it signed a key deal with satellite operator Eutelsat that will see the channel launch across Asia, which in essence makes it now a worldwide channel. It will be broadcast via the Eutelsat W5 satellite. The deal with Eutelsat was a key transaction for the channel as it marks its entry into many key markets in Asia. In terms of the significance of the contract with Eutelsat, Cayla comments, “We have chosen Eutelsat because they are very convenient for us. They can uplink from Europe and downlink in Asia. They have a Ku-band satellite, which is very efficient in terms of performance. So, you can gain reception with small antennas. It is a very convenient way of bringing our signals to Asia.”

As well as the potential deal with Dish TV in India, it has also requested broadcasting authorizations from SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television)-the audiovisual authority for China. Throughout the next 12 months, gaining audience share in Asia will be one of the top priorities. Cayla admits, “With gaining Asian coverage, we have now achieved worldwide coverage. In 2005, it should be a breakthrough year for us in Asia. We want to attract a significant number of viewers here.”

The operator competes against some significant channel brands in the news content market. However, Cayla believes the channel has more than held its own against the competition. He says, “We have achieved very good ratings in Europe. We have eight million viewers a day, which is four times the figure of CNN and eight times the figure of BBC World. We think we have a pretty good audience in the Middle East and Africa. We have one million viewers in North America. Our audience is limited there at the moment.”

New Platforms

While the channel is looking to expand its reach across different satellite platforms, IPTV and mobile telephony are also areas of distribution, which the channel will look to improve. Content providers are looking more at alternative means of distribution and EuroNews is on exception. Cayla says, “We are also looking at cable and DSL operators for distribution, and even mobile telephony operators. We have already started doing this in Europe. We plan to do the same in South Korea and Japan. We are also going to look at Australia. Two weeks ago, we just started a live mobile telephony service with SFR service.”

He continued, “We are going to launch services in other European markets soon [and hope to launch in Asia as well]. We also want to attract as many mobile telephony operators as possible. We have been very successful in this area during the last six months. We are now signing contracts every week with European operators. We want to be the news channel of the business traveller. We are looking for distribution across different platforms.”

In terms of overall revenues, Cayla expects revenues in 2004 to be higher than what they were in 2003 with possible double digital growth and that these revenues will be better than company projections.

(Lydie Bonvallet, EuroNews, [email protected])