EuroNews - new title sequences

Just tuned into EuroNews and I notice that at least some of their segments, if not most of them, have new title sequences which look like an evolution from the last look. Some of the full screen graphics, such as the market graphics, have changed to reflect the new look. However, the lower thirds are unchanged, as is the DOG.

Just tuned to EuroNews and I have to say the channel improved a lot! It starts to become an increasingly important channel to me!

Not just the title sequence. Most of the graphics have been updated!

It's not too many major changes from the refresh a year ago, though I think the top of the hour sequence is a downgrade. The old music and timelapses of Lyon were better than whatever that stuff is now.

Euronews has really improved as a channel though. Their social media presence is also one of the better uses of combining video into Facebook and Twitter feeds.

I found video! Thanks to xgrinchy for this. It seems like every top of the hour ident uses the skyline of a different European city instead of just Lyon everytime. I guess that's a nice idea, though the graphical treatment and hyped up music ruin it for me.

Before:



Now:



This countdown isn't anything new, as it debuted sometime in the last few months, though it's in the graphical style that they seem to be moving to and has been appearing more often. It reminds me of the one that France24 used when it debuted.



While I still think their visual style is all over the place, Euronews is a highly underrated news channel in my opinion. Their Ukraine coverage, for example, is better than almost every other English language channel.

Some serious French influence there! Reminds me of TF1

http://youtu.be/5SPnWwrGjpQ

Frankly, I think they'll remain underrated until they adopt a more conventional format with in-vision anchors and reporters. Their current arrangement strips the channel of any personality and makes the coverage of breaking news stories needlessly difficult. Almost since the dawn of television, people have been used to getting their news from recognizable people, and I don't think that going against this well-established practice is really working for Euronews.

One would think that digital technology would enable Euronews to provide in-vision versions of the channel in several languages* at a reasonable cost if they were serious in taking on the big players in TV news. (*Perhaps not as many as now, but Euronews has never broadcast in most European languages anyway.) They already have the content; now they need to reconsider the packaging.

Actually at the dawn of television news was delivered in pretty much the format you see on Euronews with no in-vision anchors.

I agree it will probably remain underrated as it isn't a conventional news channel but it would be suicide to go down that route. They've got a business model that works for them at the moment and they'd be foolish to change it.

Yes, that was the BBC's initial approach, but after ITN imported the practice of in-vision newscasters from the U.S. in 1955, the BBC quickly followed suit. (In the U.S., news anchors had been in-vision since the beginning.)



But is Euronews really successful as a business model? It was set up by the European Commission and is owned by various European public broadcasters, so it has always had a top-down, EU-sponsored whiff about it. Would it exist today as a player in the TV news market without those official backers, who essentially launched it not fill a market niche, but as a counterweight to CNN and a symbol of European multilingualism*?

Don't get me wrong: I think that a truly pan-European news channel is a great idea; I just think that the (officially mandated) format used by Euronews is crippling its potential. Since English is, by a huge margin, the most widely spoken second language in Europe, perhaps they should consider an in-vision service in English and leave the current format for the other languages?

* Which, frankly, Euronews isn't, since it doesn't air in most European languages anyway.

Isn't it one of the channels where if you change the language settings on your sky box to French or German, you actually get French or German soundtracks? Been years since I've tried it though so it might have changed...

I'm afraid you're incorrect when you state that Euronews doesn't air in most European Languages. It's Default language in the UK and Ireland is English, but in Germany and other German speaking Countries it's German, in France it's French and so on. It had multiple language tracks on sky the last time I looked. I believe it broadcasts in 14 languages in total. That was one of the reasons they had no in vision presenters when it started.

I doubt it's there to make a profit, However it saves money for stations in other ways. There are several stations across europe that use it as a sustaining service when programmes come to a close for the night. For example RTE 1 and 2 switch to Euronews for two or three hours around 3am.

It's not bad as a station but it is very dull. France 24 english service (which is carried by TG4 overnight) has a bit more life to it.

I would take a second look at Euronews then if I were you, as they have made a conscious effort in the last 2-3 years to have more in-vision presenters. They've gone from relying mostly on affiliates to opening their own bureaux with their own correspondents, and it's now pretty common (read: a daily basis) to see on-air reporters for Euronews in their packages. They also have in-vision anchors for interviews and debate shows under the news+ brand, and Chris Burns (if you remember him from CNN ages ago) has a show, among many other random people. They clearly have listened to a lot of the usual criticism of the channel and are making strides to make it more engaging with in-vision reporters and more feature segments.

The one downside to in-vision reporters on a 13-language channel, obviously, is that it is still dubbed for the 12 other languages that the anchor or correspondent isn't speaking in at the time. This isn't ideal, though I think it does give you a chance to hear more local perspectives when you're not restricted to only guests and voices who can speak English, and if France24 is any lesson, trying to operate a news channel across multiple languages with in-vision presenters, custom graphics, and the same content simultaneously is a struggle at best.

Euronews isn't a great business model, but does any news channel or broadcast news service have a great business model? And it may not be great for breaking news, but one could also make the argument that an in-vision anchor fumbling through details that change quickly or are often inaccurate in breaking news coverage isn't that great of a practice to begin with. I don't think it's built for that, and they know that, but it is a good channel to watch for 30 minutes to get a comprehensive check of headlines and features with a European emphasis.