Advanced Television

NBC buys 25% of Euronews

February 15, 2017

NBC News, riding high after the US election, is buying 25 per cent of Euronews for $30 million (28.3m) in an effort to increase its international footprint and compete with CNN. Euronews will become known as Euronews NBC.

Deborah Turness, President of NBC News, is moving into a new position — president of NBC News International — where she will be the liaison between the news division and the European network.

Turness, a 49-year-old native of Britain who was recruited to NBC from ITV News in Britain in 2013, will return to Europe to help manage the initiative. NBC thinks its 25 percent stake in Euronews means that the network can tap into an international market. Founded in 1993, the network has more than 400 journalists and is broadcast in 13 languages. Though Euronews has a wide footprint — it reaches 277 million households across Europe, Africa and the Middle East — but its viewership and influence are small. Set up by the EBU it is majority owned by the family of Egyptian businessman Naguib Onsi Sawiris.

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