My technical assistance

A professional TV and radio, environment in the Berlaymont

The Audiovisual Services of the European Commission situated in the Berlaymont building offers various kinds of assistance and technical facilities to TV and radio journalists:

Two TV studios and one radio studio
Editing and duplication facilities
Video crews and filming facilities
Access to archive footage
Access to play out services.
SEE THE VIRTUAL VISIT OF THE STUDIOS

CONDITIONS OF USE

The above mentioned services are provided free of charge to Radio and TV stations subject to certain relevant priorities and conditions of use:

Management of priorities:

Requests for technical assistance will be met on a "first come, first served" basis and preference will be given to:

• Coverage of Community current affairs
• Items involving members of the EC
• Productions covering priority themes on the Commission's Work programme
• Radio and TV stations from a Member State or a candidate country
• Audience and geographical diversity may also be taken into consideration when deciding on the allocation of facilities

The use of crews and editing facilities is restricted to a maximum of 2:30 hours (filming, editing and transmission) for each user.

Reservation of the studios:

Requests to reserve the studio facilities should be made as follows:

• Obtain a user id and password
  To register go to the blue box in the top right hand corner of any page on the portal and click on the "not yet registered?" link. This registration will also give you free access to download any of the audiovisual products found on the site (audio files, photos, videos). You will only have to register once.
• Reserve a studio through our Planning team
  Either call or email the Planning team to check the availability of our resources on the date and at the time required.
  Click here

Reservation requests should be sent to the European Commission's Audiovisual Planning office accompanied by a copy of the circuit reservation request.

Details required when making a reservation:

• Name and contact details of the station and the person in charge
• Estimation of the programme's audience and market share
• Channel(s) and transmission time of the programme
• Number of transmissions and channels used
• Subject of the programme and a brief description
• European content of the programme for which European assistance is being requested
• Date, hour and duration of the recording
• Number of cameras
• Number of people required in the studio, recording and transmission type
• For edits: specify the formats and number of copies required

Other important information:

Core services can be used free of charge by TV and radio stations, however, all unlisted services must be paid for by the user. Circuit reservation requests (via satellite or fibre optic) must be booked and paid for by the station.

Consumers of EC videotape stock are requested to supply blank replacements of the appropriate video format when ordering copies.

Furthermore, please note that the Commission's participation is limited to that of technical assistance. The Commission is not responsible for the content (editorial line, information, opinions expressed, etc) of the programmes produced.

TECHNICAL FACILITIES

ENG team
Cameraman + sound engineer, BETACAM SP 625/50 SD in 4:3 or DVCPRO25 625/50 SD in 4:3 or 16:9

TV Studio 1:

for live and recorded productions

• 187 m² area
• 5.5 m high cyclorama
• Kayak video mixer
• 2 interpreters' cabins
• One tables for debates (one to 4 persons)
• A 25 seat tribune for audience participation
• 3 or 4 LDK 5000 studio cameras 4:3
• Chyron character generator
• Autocue prompter
• Full lighting grid
• 16:9 format is also available

TV Studio 2

• 70 m² area
• 5.5 m high cyclorama
• Kayak video mixer
• 4 interpreters' cabins
• 1 or 2 4 LDK 5000 studio cameras 4:3
• Chyron character generator
• Autocue prompter
• Full lighting grid
• 16:9 format is also available

Video editing

• tape to tape & non linear server editing system (NewsEdit)
• DV25 video Format
• Video formats:
  Digital BETACAM, DVCAM, DVCPRO25, BETACAM SP
• voice over recording

Viewing rooms

Copies and transmissions

• Most current productions are available to record directly from EbS
• Audio recordings of press conferences and statements are available on the site in MP3 format
• Possibility of obtaining news items on Beta SP, Beta SX, DVC Pro, DVCAM, MiniDV
• Transmission via the EBU and other gateways from Beta SP, Beta SX, DVC Pro, DVCAM

Green room and make up area available near the studios

Radio studio:

• Capacity : 4 people
• Professional standards
• ISDN connection
• Non linear editing and mixing (Pro Tools)
• Zephir codec (protocoles : G722, layer 2 mono, layer 2 stereo, layer 3 mono, layer 3 stereo)

Audio copies:

Sound copies of news items can be obtained on audio cassettes, DAT, MD, or CD and MP3 files

Contacts & Information requests

Audiovisual Planning office
Berlaymont -1/ME23
Tel: +32 2 295 21 23
Fax: +32 2 230 12 80