The difficulties interpreters encounter in mediating TV live interviews suggests that it is necessary to study the specificity of this type of interlingual communication, with a view to identifying the more dangerous areas, and elaborating strategies for the optimisation of the process. The present attempt to attain this goal (based on 15 samples of interviews with English-speaking interviewees and one in German, and two enquiries amongst TV viewers) will focus on: (1) the participants’ status and role; (2) the nature of the text, however with the focus not on the “What about”, but on the “How”, i.e. on the text building strategies, determined by the participants’ goals; (3) the setting and the mode of interpreting, and (4) the interpreter’s output.