Euronews (styled euronews) is a European television news network The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in most of the world via its website, on YouTube, and on various mobile devices and digital media players. The service is also aimed at the overseas market, similar to TV Brasil Internacional, ABC Australia, TVP Polonia, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg Television, CNBC, CNN International, CNN, ESPNews, DD India, BBC News, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, France 24, Phoenix InfoNews Channel, RTP Internacional, TVE Internacional, Rai Italia, CCTV-4, CGTN, DW, TV5Monde, NHK World, Arirang, KBS World, RT, BBC Parliament, CBC News Network, Fox News Channel, Canal del Congreso, CPAC, C-SPAN, BBC One, CBC Television, PBS and RTR-Planeta.
History
In 1992, following the Persian Gulf War, during which rival cable and satellite international television news channel CNN's position as the preeminent source of 24-hour news programming was cemented, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) proposed a channel to present information from a counterpart European perspective. The inaugural Euronews broadcast was on 1 January 1993 from Écully, Lyon. In 1996, an additional broadcast studio was set up in London.
In late 1997, the British news broadcaster ITN purchased a 49% share of Euronews for £5.1 million from Alcatel-Lucent. ITN supplied the content of the channel along with the remaining shareholders.
In 1999, the broadcast switched from solely analogue to mainly digital transmission. The same year, a Portuguese audio track was added.
In 2001, the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) acquired a 1.8% stake in SOCEMIE. A Russian-language service was launched later in the year.
In April 2003, ITN sold its stake in Euronews as part of its drive to streamline operations and focus on news-gathering rather than channel management.
On 6 February 2006, Ukrainian public broadcaster Natsionalna Telekompanya Ukraïny (NTU) purchased a one percent interest in SOCEMIE.
In 2007, Euronews won the European Commission's tender for an Arabic-language news channel, with a service agreement being signed on 6 December. The Arabic service would eventually be launched in July 2008.
On 27 May 2008, Spanish public broadcaster RTVE decided to leave Euronews, citing legal requirements to maintain low debt levels through careful spending as a factor influencing its decision to leave, as well as to promote its international channel TVE Internacional.
In February 2009, the Turkish public broadcaster TRT became a shareholder in the channel and joined its supervisory board. TRT purchased 15.70% of the channel's shares and became the fourth main partner after France Télévisions (23.93%), RAI (21.54%), and VGTRK (16.94%). Subsequently, Turkish was added as the ninth language service in January 2010. Later that year in October, the channel started broadcasting in Persian, then began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen format in early 2011, and launched a Ukrainian service in August. A Polish service was launched in mid-2011 amid Poland's accession to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, although only some selected evening broadcasts were translated. It was shortly after discontinued in January 2012.
In February 2015, the channel's executive board approved a bid by Media Globe Networks, owned by Egyptian telecom magnate Naguib Sawiris, to acquire a 53% controlling stake in the media outlet. The deal raised questions over Euronews's future editorial posture and independence.
On 13 March 2015, it was announced that Inter Media Group, owned by pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, had taken over the Ukrainian service. In response, the Ukrainian government decided to revoke its broadcasting license for its suspected bias and dropped its funding. Firtash later abandoned the project, resulting in the department shutting down and leaving 17 journalists redundant. The Russian service, which was financed by Moscow, refused to provide jobs to the journalists, in violation of French labour legislation. The management explained that not hiring any Ukrainian journalists was a specific instruction from VGTRK.
In October 2015, Euronews moved to a new global headquarters complex in La Confluence, Lyon, designed by Paris-based architecture firm Jakob + MacFarlane and covering a floor area of 10,000 m2 (21⁄2 acres). The decision to move was announced prior to the majority takeover by Media Globe Networks.