The European Parliament is launching its own four-channel TV station this week, at a cost of €9 million (£7 million) a year.

Europarltv aims to make the 785-member parliament “as transparent and understandable as possible to European citizens” by broadcasting in 22 languages on the internet. MEPs voted the money for the project because they were concerned that too little of their work was being shown on the existing EU-subsidised internet service, Europe By Satellite, which broadcasts only selected debates and speeches.

Europarltv will have one channel entirely devoted to live coverage of events in the chamber in Brussels or Strasbourg, the two sites of the European Parliament.

Another of the four channels will be devoted to programmes for schools. More than a third of the budget will be eaten up in translation services, providing voice-overs or subtitles.

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