Eurochannel

World Screen Weekly, October 25, 2007

COUNTRY: The channel is available in 22 countries in total, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Canada, Portugal and Uruguay.

YEAR IT LAUNCHED: 1994

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: More than 7 million subscribers in Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean and Portugal.

DESCRIPTION: The 24/7 channel aims to provide its viewers a window into Europe, offering fiction, documentaries and music, all sourced from across the region.

CHAIRMAN & CEO: Gustavo Vainstein

COO: Alexander Behrens

PROGRAMS & ACQUISITIONS CHIEF: Christian Poccard

CFO: Jesus Roldan

PRESS RELATIONS: Lydiane Lambert

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Offering a mix of scripted content, music and documentaries, a key focus for the channel is that all of its content is wholly subtitled, rather than dubbed, to retain the flavor of the program’s origin. “There are about 26 different European languages,” explains Eurochannel’s chairman and CEO, Gustavo Vainstein, “and we make all of these languages understandable to everyone, everywhere—that’s the magic of subtitles.”

About 95 percent of the channel’s content is acquired. “Our mission is to look for good European programs that can be watched outside of the countries that produce them,” notes Vainstein. “We are always looking for programs that have not been released in each distribution country. And even in Europe, lots of programs have never been released out of their original country.” An example of this is the Scottish series High Times, which, prior to airing on Eurochannel, had never been shown outside of Scotland. It now performs well in nearly all countries that Eurochannel reaches. It is this type of programming, with international appeal, that Eurochannel looks to acquire.

The remaining 5 percent of the Eurochannel grid is original productions, led by coverage of the main European Film Festivals and productions on European life and culture in Latin America. “We do a lot of interviews with actors and directors at each festival,” explains Vainstein, “and we are now very well liked on the festival circuit because we cover them so well and bring such beautiful images from each.”

Addressing European populations in Latin America, meanwhile, Eurochannel and Grifa Mixer, a Brazilian production company, recently did a feature on S㯠Paulo and the European expatriates living there, titled Europa Paulistana. The original productions, Vainstein explains, attempt to “bring Europe to the world and we try to show how Europe exists in the world.”

To fully serve this goal, the channel is divided into seven categories: Eurocinema, which offers more than 70 movies per month and three new films per week; Euroseries, which includes popular titles such as The Office (U.K.), Coupling (U.K.), H (France); Euromusic, featuring interviews, videos and specials on the European pop music scene; Eurotravel, which highlights the best tourist destinations and cultural activities; Eurofashion, examining the latest trends and information from the world’s most renowned designers; and Euromagazine; offering up a variety of programs about recognizable personalities around the world.

In terms of new media, the channel’s website plays an integral role in communicating with viewers. And Eurochannel is expanding its reach via IPTV operators.

WHAT’S NEW: An important part of the channel’s new programming is the “National Months,” which dedicate a block of content to a different European country each month. Eurochannel is highlighting Germany this month, rolling out classic German cinema such as The Bridge (Die Brucke) and Lili Marleen, as well as a Friday block with productions such as The Fast Lane (Grenzverkehr), Against All Odds (Margarete Steiff), Not All Were Murderers (Nicht alle waren M?r) and the documentary Houwelandt, the Adventure of A Novel (Houwelandt—Ein Roman entsteht). November will be focused on Portugal, followed by Spain in December and Italy at the beginning of next year.

Looking toward the future, expansion is the channel’s greatest focus. Currently there are two versions of the channel available: Spanish, for Hispanic Latin America and Canada, and Portuguese, for Brazil and Portugal. However, Vainstein notes that there is also a strong interest for Eurochannel content in many Asian countries. Additionally, an English version is on the horizon: “I hope I shall give you the news about the Eurochannel arriving in America very soon. We are convinced that in America we are going to be like Starbucks—ten years ago, it was very hard to find good coffee in the U.S., and now we are going to bring you good European audiovisual that will be available everywhere.”

WEBSITE: www.eurochannel.com

—By Kristin Brzoznowski