Acting as editorial and programme production centre, ARTE Deutschland is based in Baden-Baden. Jointly with ARTE France, it finances and controls headquarters operations in Strasbourg and represents its interests before ARTE GEIE’s decision-making bodies. The company is also responsible for submitting programme proposals and delivering programmes, which, once they have been approved by the Programme Committee, are subsequently broadcast from Strasbourg.
The structure of the Baden-Baden based company mirrors the de-centralised organisation of German federal public broadcasting. Its shareholders are the state broadcasting corporations ARD and ZDF. The entire German contribution to ARTE consists of programmes, often television premieres, which have been either purchased or produced by ARD and ZDF.
The ARTE liaison officers at ARD and the ARTE coordinators at ARD and ZDF are responsible for programming proposals and their realisation. They work in close collaboration with their respective editorial departments, the ARTE Deutschland Programme Coordination, and editorial departments at ARTE GEIE. ARTE Deutschland is represented on the Programme Committee and extended meetings of the ARTE GEIE Management Board by its managing directors. ARTE Deutschland is predominantly concerned with the coordination and contract settlements of the German programme contributions for both television and internet. They are also responsible for programme related communication in Germany as well as for expanding and maintaining a large network of partnerships with cultural and media organisations in the fields of literature, theatre, music, fine arts and audiovisual media. With regards to multimedia administration, ARTE Deutschland, in collaboration with its shareholders, has editorial responsibility for themed files and content on certain parts of the ARTE website. Together with ARTE France, ARTE Deutschland supervises the organisation and editing of live streaming for the concert and event platform, ARTE Concert. These ventures all serve to demonstrate ARTE’s commitment to Franco-German partnership and to Europe.