It costs £53,000 for every hour broadcast but under 160,000 people have watched it since broadcasting began in mid-September. Over 60,000 of those were in the first week.
This means that this lavishly funded European Union channel attracts less than 1200 viewers every day, from an audience of over 400 million.
It is, of course, the European Parliament’s EuroparlTV. That’s the web-TV service that will cost over £32 million over four years, over £9,000 worth of vanity programmes for each and every MEP.
The viewing figures (hat tip to Julien Frisch) are impossible to verify and have to be based on whispers or hints from various parliament sources because no official figures are being released.
I asked one parliament official if he could tell me the viewing figure. “No. We are not interested in the figures,” came his reply. Yes, things are that bad.
#1 by SSJ on February 17, 2009 - 11:24 pm
Don’t you think “the EU should communicate with citizens”? I’m sure you will write here only in the fashion of europhobia.
#2 by Bruno Waterfield on February 18, 2009 - 9:37 am
The EU will “communicate” with us whether we like it or not. It is a one sided transaction.
This is not the same as a genuinely European political debate.
I not irrationally frightened of euro notes or coins – as your comment would suggest.
#3 by ziga turk on February 18, 2009 - 10:11 am
The RSS feed (from the title bar) is broken.
#4 by Martin Koch Andersen on February 18, 2009 - 10:30 am
@ ziga turk
Not sure which feed you are referring to? Seem to work fine here.
#5 by SSJ on February 18, 2009 - 2:41 pm
@ Bruno Waterfield You write the jargon about a faceless and distant Brussels elite, yet when the European Parliament tries to do something about it you’re just ridiculing it (using gossip statistics), not even mentioning their intention. Do you want a two-way pan-european debate, or do you want Britain to leave the EU and join an imaginary free-trade-only club? You obviously have a biased agenda; what you’re writing is just destructive in relation to the first option. It boils down to the assertion that European politicians are dumb.
#6 by Bruno Waterfield on February 18, 2009 - 3:39 pm
Biased? This is comment. What else do you expect?
I am not one of the “better off out” brigade.
Read http://blogs.euobserver.com/waterfield/about
#7 by Lisbeth Kirk on February 18, 2009 - 4:16 pm
“An Error Occured” that’s all I get when trying to follow the EuroparlTV transmitation of the Parliament’s Plenary session in Brussels, today Wednesday 18.02.2009, 15.00 – 00.00. Am I the only one feeling that there is some value missing for the money?
If you know how to get in, I’d be happy to learn the trick.
Parliament Live, Watch now: http://www.europarltv.europa.eu/StartPage.aspx
#8 by Gawain Towler on February 18, 2009 - 4:45 pm
EPTV wishes to set the dial to ‘transmit’ not to ‘receive’.
I was at a meeting with EPTV a few months ago where the organisers boasted that the channel was specifically designed to make it almost impossible to download.
Slack jawed with horror I asked why.
“Well, if it is downloadable then our programs could go onto Youtube.”
“Yes”, says I, “That would be good, because then you would have mulitpliers”.
“No, you don’t understand, on Youtube people could make negitive comments”.
Oh brother. And this is communication?
#9 by Imdb Film on July 9, 2009 - 10:41 pm
EPTV want to adjust the dial to ‘convey’ not ‘receive’.
I was at a reunion with EPTV a few months ago when the organizers boasted that the channel was specifically designed to make it almost impossible to download.
Slack jawed with horror, I asked why.
“Well, if it can be downloaded below, our programs can go to YouTube.”
“Yes,” she said, “That would be good, because then there would be mulitpliers.
“No, you do not understand, people on Youtube might make negitive comments.”
#10 by Mark Bond on July 19, 2009 - 5:43 pm
NO! What a turn oN !