Arte
| Country |  France  Germany |
|---|---|
| Ownership | |
| Owner | ARTE France & ARTE Deutschland |
Arte (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne, Association Relative to the European Television) is a Franco-German TV network, which aims to promote quality programming related to the world of arts and culture. Its facilities are located in Strasbourg, France (headquarters) and Baden-Baden in Germany.
Because it is an international joint venture (an EEIG), programs are created so as to be equally watchable from both countries. This implies double-titling, opposite-language subtitling and dubbing, hosts speaking both languages alternately and generally two separate audio tracks (only one is available over the air in France, but either one can be selected on satellite television and digital cable).
Arte began transmission in 1992, under socialist rule, filling frequencies left unused by the demise of La Cinq, the first French commercial television network (created in 1986). Arte has survived the 1993 transition to a right-wing government in spite of some fears, and quite a number of later changes too.
Programs are created by Arte France formerly known as La Sept (theoretically La Société d'édition des programmes de télévision, but also a word play, given that the name intuitively means the seventh network and indeed La Sept existed while the fifth network was still La Cinq; it made satellite television programs at the time) and by ARTE Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of the two main public German TV networks ARD and ZDF.
In France, programming is available permanently on cable, but over the air only in the evening, as France 5 operates the frequencies during the day.
Arte is more popular in France (market share of about 5%) than in Germany (about 1%). But in Germany it has more competition.
Arte is also available in Belgium and the Netherlands via cable.
Arte has also an on-line radio web site, called Arte Radio.
SBS of Australia (not related to the European SBS), translates many Arte programs into English for broadcasting to English speaking people. The voice actor usually used has an English accent.
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