Euronews

On 2 October 2012, Euronews launched Euronews Radio. The service was available for download on the App Store and Google Play, in addition to being available on TuneIn, and was designed for viewers for whom "watching news is not an option" by providing a direct simulcast to the TV channel, with the "No Comment" segment being replaced by music. The music of the bulletin openings was also transmitted on Euronews Radio. Weather reports were read by a female announcer.

As of December 2020, the radio service appears to have been defunct, and the stream on its webpage or on TuneIn is not functional.[22]

In January 2014, Euronews announced a partnership with public broadcaster Télé Congo "under the auspices of the President of the Republic of the Congo, Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso" to create an African service entitled Africanews.[23] Initially based in Pointe-Noire, its website debuted on 4 January 2016, with the Africanews TV channel eventually launching on 20 April, broadcasting in English and French.[24]

In January 2016, Euronews was accused of plagiarism by the Congolese media group AfricaNews,[25] because the Lyon-based channel used the name "Africanews" for its African subsidiary. However, AfricaNews in the Democratic Republic of Congo has existed since 2005 and can be found on the Internet. Its employees sent letters to DRC authorities and managing director of Euronews, Michael Peters, to change the related name and to avoid using it for the African subsidiary of Euronews.[26][27][25]

In 2020, Euronews originally planned to sell Africanews to a group known as Sipromad, but the deal eventually fell through and the two parties entered litigation. As a result, Africanews would remain under the ownership of its sister channel, but its production would move from Pointe-Noire to Euronews's headquarters in Lyon by the end of July 2020, with a reduction in costs of at least 30%.[28]

Euronews headquarters in Lyon

In November 2016, the channel's executive board was in talks with NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, for a "strategic partnership". NBCU would acquire 15 to 30% ownership of the Euronews network, would contribute to Euronews content, and facilitate NBC News' expanded operations in Europe.[29] After successful negotiations with the European Commission, who feared that the partnership would result in an "Americanization" of Euronews, the NBCUniversal News Group finally purchased a 25% stake in Euronews in February 2017 for $30 million. NBC News president Deborah Turness was appointed to head up international operations, and incumbent Euronews CEO Michael Peters, who had led it since 2004, became CEO of the new partnership. Both reported directly to NBC News chairman Andrew Lack. The resulting partnership became known as Euronews NBC.[30]

Although Naguib Sawiris and NBC News had the largest stakes in Euronews, editorial control by SOCEMIE members was assured, with the broadcasters having seven slots in the editorial board, as opposed to Sawiris' company (which has three slots) and NBC News, which only has one, thereby reducing rumors of an "Americanization" of Euronews' values. Editorial control is fully handled by Euronews' teams, with NBC only focusing on planning and coordinating tasks.[31] After the formation of the partnership, video reports from NBC News' properties and correspondents began to appear frequently on the TV channel and reports from NBCNews.com began to be distributed on its digital platforms.

On 9 May 2017, Euronews split its service into 12 language-specific editions, of which nine have a linear TV channel with its own language voiceover, but now including the on-screen ticker and most lower thirds in the local language. The glocal strategy allows the language editorial teams to personalize the content and presentation of their channel, not only by sharing own-produced content with other languages but by producing content that is relevant to local audiences and allowing local reporters and presenters to appear on camera in all its language editions. The splitting process finished on 24 May 2017.[32]

Alongside the major language split, satellite distribution for the German, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish channels was discontinued, now being only available via fiber-optic IP uplink.[32] The discontinuation of the German-language channel on satellite in particular generated outcry from many German satellite TV owners, resulting in its restoration on the Astra 1L satellite on 25 July 2017, via an unencrypted SD feed sitting alongside the French-language channel.[33] Additionally, the Arabic and Persian-language editions became available only on Euronews' website and apps as well as on social media, with TV broadcasting being discontinued.[34] Furthermore, the Ukrainian edition was discontinued outright, due to lack of funding from the Ukrainian government, as well as due to the controversy surrounding the ownership of its broadcasting licence.[35] The Turkish-language TV channel would later also be axed, following discontinued support from TRT, who wanted to prioritise its own international news channel, TRT World.[36][34] Finally, the Euronews channel in English would become known as the World edition, and distribution to premises in the American continent via fiber-optic IP uplink was set to begin later in 2018.[32] These changes caused the elimination of 43 staff positions, mainly from the Ukrainian edition, causing major layoffs and leading to production staff having more flexible roles.[37]

In 2018, Euronews' English-language channel began to gradually revamp its programming schedule, with the roll-out of a new slate of presenter-led programming to complement its already existing shows, a move that was reported earlier in the year, after the success of its presenter-led special reports and weekly programming introduced in recent years.[38] Alongside conventional rolling news shows with newsreaders, debate programming, talk shows, and new presenter-led long-form shows began to be offered during the weekly schedule, and throughout programs, Euronews reporters from different nationalities will be offering context on stories close to their respective home nationalities.[39]

The roll-out began on 22 May, when Euronews debuted the first of these new shows, Good Morning Europe, a five-hour morning show which airs every weekday morning from 7 am. It was first anchored by former RT correspondent and TVB Pearl news presenter Tesa Arcilla, who anchored it on a temporary basis. Some weeks later, former France 24 presenter Belle Donati began presenting the show, alternating with Arcilla; after she moved to Brussels in September, she became the main anchor of the slot. Two months later, on 17 July, Euronews debuted a six-hour breaking news show, Euronews Now, anchored by Tokunbo Salako, covering the dayside and afternoon slots. On 3 September, the new evening program lineup was launched, starting with a politics-focused show, Raw Politics, hosted from Brussels by Tesa Arcilla, and featuring former Sky News reporter Darren McCaffrey. It also spawned a weekly spin-off, Raw Politics: Your Call, a phone-in show which featured European Parliament members answering viewers' questions by phone or social media. The show was dropped over a year later, in October 2019, due to low viewership, with its content being integrated into the rolling news programming. Two weeks after the launch of Raw Politics, on 17 September, the full roll-out was completed with the introduction of a 5-hour evening rolling news show, Euronews Tonight, initially presented by former Sky News and BBC News presenter Sam Naz, and later by Euronews veteran Isabelle Kumar, who has worked with the channel since 2003.[40][41] The traditional pre-produced blocks of video content still remains on some late-nights and weekends. Most overnights now repeat the previous day's edition (either full or half-length) of Euronews Now.

New weekly programming is also being produced, including the weekly interview series Uncut, which feature conversations from political leaders and newsmakers worldwide with minimum to no editing. The first episodes feature German-French politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit interviewing former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair about Brexit. Additionally, a new social media unit was created, with journalists with a background on digital news verification leading it. The newly created team help to produce The Cube, a social media segment during rolling news shows, focusing on analysis on treatment and reactions about news headlines on social media, with special attention at the major stories of the day. No Comment, a long-standing element of Euronews' programming, remains on the channels' schedule, and it's being gradually integrated into the rolling news shows on the English-language channel.[40]

Additionally, a major investment in mobile reporting via iPhone devices helped Euronews gain a major scoop, becoming the only TV news outlet worldwide to broadcast live coverage from the MV Aquarius, with Paris correspondent Annelise Borges (formerly with France 24) on assignment. Borges broadcast live for 10 days as the Italian government denied the Aquarius access to Italian ports. The coverage made headlines on many news outlets worldwide and helped Euronews augment its credibility and its audience.[40] The new Euronews also hired new correspondents in London, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Madrid and Washington D.C., and gained access to NBC News' large network of correspondents worldwide.

As of September 2018, the other language editions are unaffected, with the pre-produced blocks of video content remaining at all times. Programming dayparts were later named with proper translations of the existing daypart programming of the World edition (i.e. the evening daypart being named Euronews am Abend, Euronews Noite, Euronews Soir...). There were plans to introduce presenter-led programming during the morning slots on these other channels, eventually, the evening daypart in most of the language-specific channels became presenter-led by late 2018; all of these editions are pre-recorded and pre-produced before broadcast, and eventually looped through the night.[38]

On 20 April 2020, it was reported that NBCUniversal had sold its stake in Euronews to Media Globe Networks, eventually having an overall majority share of 88%. NBCUniversal's parent company Comcast had recently acquired pan-European satellite service Sky Group, and was prioritizing a collaboration between NBC News and Sky News on a new international news channel.[42] The proposed service was scrapped in August during the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, with the project no longer considered commercially viable.[43]

As part of Euronews' digital growth post-NBC, the broadcaster has launched a series of online verticals dedicated to specific areas. These include Euronews Green, Euronews Travel, Euronews Next, and Euronews Culture.[44][45][46]

In December 2021, reports surfaced that Lisbon-based Alpac Capital would buy an 88% controlling stake in Euronews from Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris.[2][3][4] The sale was met with scrutiny as Alpac is allegedly linked to Viktor Orbán of Hungary (discussed below).[47][48] The purchase was finalised in July 2022, following approval from the French government.[49][50]

Since 2018, Euronews has begun licensing its name to various private and public broadcasters and organisations in southern, central and eastern Europe, agreeing to set up localized Euronews channels broadcasting regional, national, European and international news in local languages. The first of these channels was the launch of Euronews Albania.

• Euronews Albania

In 2019, Euronews launched its first franchise through a joint venture with local RTV In in Albania. The new channel, known as Euronews Albania, is based in Tirana, Albania and covers the Western Balkans countries of Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia.[62]

• Euronews Bulgaria

In 2021, Euronews signed a partnership with TV Europa to launch a channel in Bulgarian.[63][64] The new channel started broadcasting on May 5, 2022.[65]

• Euronews Georgia

In 2019, Euronews signed a deal with local telecommunications company Silknet to launch a channel in Georgian.[63][66] The new channel began broadcasting on 31 August.[67]

• Euronews Romania

In 2021, Euronews teamed up with the Politehnica University of Bucharest to launch a channel in Romanian.[63][68] The new channel started broadcasting on 25 May 2022,[69] and also covers the Republic of Moldova.[70]

• Euronews Serbia

In 2019, Euronews teamed up with the media group HD-WIN, owned by the state-owned Telekom Srbija, to launch a channel in Serbian. The new channel started broadcasting on 3 June 2021.[71][72]

High-definition (HD) broadcasting was started on 2 November 2016 via satellite using Hot Bird-capacities (English audio only). Regarding the audio codec, Euronews originally used the AC3 format, before changing to the AAC codec in March 2017, and changing again to the MPEG codec in April 2017.[73]