Back in 2006 I visited the European Parliament with thirty or so other hopeful representatives whose companies were invited to tender for the enormous and complex EuroParl webTV project, which was then just a twinkle in the eye of the teams at Brussells and Strasbourg HQs. If the tender documentation and requirements were complex, then imagine the technological resources and brain power required to put a project like this together. So now it’s launched, and It’s hats off to my esteemed friend Phil Haggar, Director of TwoFour Digital who has no doubt applied his razor sharp mind to the job with his usual calm integrity; and to Paul Tarplee, MD of TwoFour Digital, who I ate lunch with in Strasbourg back on those site visits, and I imagine has had some sleepless nights since on this one. But hopefully not.
This is a pretty significant moment in webTV world. It demonstrates the all pervasive use of video and how pretty much anything is possible if you have the right team and the right brains on a project. The complexity of streaming video in 20 odd languages – live and on-demand – is mind boggling. But I have no doubt it will be a success.
There will be four channels for four different types of audience: Your Parliament, Your Voice, Young Europe and Parliament Live. The parliament apparently said the project was inspired by the public’s “right to know” about what happens and hopes that it will bring “the life of the institution to its citizens in a modern and creative format.” I don’t want to get into a debate here about politics and EU regulations, the shape of bananas, etc. here, suffice to say it’s a great achievement to get this channel off the ground, and it will be really interesting to know how many people tune in. There’s an essay in all this somewhere I’m sure about the public sphere versus the political media agenda. But I haven’t got time to re-read Noam Chomsky et al just now…
From Wednesday 17th Sept 08, the channel will be online at : www.europarltv.europa.eu
I’ll definitely be watching and may report further on the content of the site, stats and so on, until the next episode of Tudors or Mock the Week on BBC iPlayer distract me that is. :)
