EU gives away footage in media charm offensive

BRUSSELS, April 24 (Reuters) - The European Commission will give away more footage of European Union events in a bid to spark greater interest in the bloc's affairs among media outlets, the EU executive said on Thursday.

The EU takes decisions that affect the daily lives of 490 million people living in 27 member states.

But its surveys show EU-related stories make up only 10 percent of national news bulletins, on a par with coverage of U.S. affairs.

The EU executive unveiled steps it will take in the coming months, including sponsoring news about the European Union in Arabic and funding a new TV network to boost coverage of EU affairs.

It will also make available free of charge more broadcast-quality raw footage of EU events, such as speeches by commissioners for broadcasters to use in programmes.

Television is the key target market as more than 95 percent of the bloc's population watches more than 3 hours a day of programmes, the Commission said in a document.

The EU executive will launch a "one-stop shop" EU events calendar in June to help the media plan coverage, and spend 8 million euros a year to support a network of European TV channels from 2009.

The EU is already contributing 10.8 million euros a year to EuroNews, a TV channel owned by a group of public broadcasters, which will launch an Arabic language version in July. (Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence)