The French Member: ARTE France

ARTE France produces, co-produces and purchases programmes for ARTE. Production policy focuses primarily on promoting original, high-quality audio-visual work, favouring independent directors and the impact of their work. Its commissions contribute to sustaining a network of independent producers, so ARTE France plays a significant role in the film and television industry, both in France and across Europe.

ARTE France employs 220 people. They are professionals with skills in programming, communication, development, international relations and management and all contribute to the objectives of the channel. Two subsidiaries have also been set up: the film production company ARTE France Cinéma, and the audio-visual production and publishing company ARTE France Développement, which markets home videos and DVDs under the ARTE Vidéo brand, which are mostly ARTE France productions. ARTE France itself uses the ARTE Editions label to sell books and multimedia products associated with its programmes. Furthermore, subscribers can download videos on demand from ARTE France’s www.artevod.com website.
ARTE France is a shareholder in the French theme channel FRANCE 4.

On an international level, ARTE France has shareholdings in TV5 and Canal France International. Supplying these channels with its programmes enables ARTE to reach a wide international audience. ARTE France is also a partner in the Canadian cultural television venture ARTV and ARTE France works with many European countries through co-productions and programme exchanges.

As both a provider of and an active player in cultural life, ARTE France’s cultural development team organises numerous events, which promote the enjoyment of culture for all, including the Temps d’images Festival.


The German Member: ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH

The Baden-Baden based German Member of ARTE reflects the federal structure of public broadcasting in Germany. The shareholders are the ARD and ZDF television channels. They produce or acquire the programmes making up the German contribution to ARTE broadcasts, which are virtually always television premieres.
The ARTE liaison officers at the ARD state channels and ZDF are responsible for programme proposals and their completion. They collaborate closely with the ARTE editorial departments, with ARTE Deutschland Programme Coordination and their counterparts at ARTE G.E.I.E.. ARTE Deutschland’s Managing Directors represent the German Member at the Programme Committee.

The ARD, also known as Das Erste ("The First"), is a network of regional public-service broadcasters all over Germany, also responsible for providing to ARTE Deutschland half of the programmes they provide to ARTE G.E.I.E. (see table below).

WDR	Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Cologne)	22,00%
SWR	Südwestrundfunk (Stuttgart)	16,75%
NDR	Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Hambourg)	16,25%
BR	Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich)	14,50%
MDR	Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Leipzig)	10,50%
HR	Hessischer Rundfunk (Francfort)	7,00%
RBB	Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg	8,00%
RB	Radio Bremen (Brême)	2,50%
SR	Saarländischer Rundfunk (Sarrebruck)	2,50%

The ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen / "Second German Television”) is based in Mainz and provides half of the ARTE programmes provided by the German Member.
Apart from their coordination tasks, ARTE Deutschland is the addressee of the Commission for determining public broadcasters funding requirements (KEF) during the licence fee setting process, and related issues which are dealt with by working groups.

ARTE Deutschland is also in charge of some programme promotion activities. This includes events for the press and general public, conventional advertising, editorial responsibility for dossiers and part of the website content and also representing the channel at book fairs and national film festivals. ARTE Deutschland maintains a network of partnerships with cultural and media organisations representing literature, music, the fine arts and audiovisual media. These activities focus on ARTE’s Franco-German and European image.

The programming committee of ARTE Germany, which consists of representatives of cultural life in the Federal Republic of Germany, convenes quarterly and advises the executive board and executives at the shareholders’ meeting on the channel’s concerns. Each broadcasting council of ARD shareholders delegates a member to the advisory committee. In total, the ZDF broadcasting council delegates the same number of members to the advisory committee as the ARD. The chairperson of the programming committee compiles an annual report for ARTE Germany’s shareholders’ meeting.