European cultural channel Arte has been preparing the structure of a European platform for the past five years, but a recent Franco-German council of ministers has brought a new perspective to the project, whose ultimate objective is to integrate 24 European languages.A declaration of intent on Franco-German cooperation in supporting the media and fighting fake news and misinformation has been signed. This cooperation is notably illustrated by the support given to Arte Europeanisation project.“The development of arte.tv into a European platform will now have concrete steps in the months to come,” asserted Heike Hempel, ZDF Drama Head and Arte GEIE president, at Arte France’s new season press conference in Paris. “In the emerging new world order, Europe must strengthen itself as public, media and cultural space. This is where Arte comes in to bring the European spirit of life.”Up to now, Arte has concluded agreements with twelve PSB groups across Europe, including RTVE in Spain, Rai in Italy, RTBF in Belgium, YLE in Finland, and, most recently, SVT in Sweden. Streamed into seven languages, Arte’s OTT offering features 89% of European productions. In 2024, the platform attracted a total of 2.8 billion views. In June, it reached 32 million subscribers on its social platforms, a 14% growth over one year.“There’s still a missing piece in the European public broadcasting system today,” noted Arte France president Bruno Patino. “And we want to embody this missing piece. So, we’re pushing this project, based on collaboration with our shareholders. European sovereignty is also exercised in user interfaces and Arte can be an instrument of this sovereignty. It won’t just by Arte in a bigger scale and certainly not Netflix on a smaller scale.”The Arte project isn’t seeking to compete with existing European PSB TV services but to be an extension of them.Before concrete proposals emerge, Arte is pushing forward with networking so as to deepen ties with its European partners on co-productions and collaborations and find new distribution agreements.As negotiations on the EU budget from 2028 to 2034 are scheduled to begin this autumn, Arte executives are also seeking to progress in terms of “structure, financing and ultimately governance”, in relation with the EU, which already finances part of Arte’s European development through calls for projects.According to Patino, the scope and ambition given to the project will depend on the resources obtained in the end.The French public allocation given to Arte amounts to €298.1 million in 2025.
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