Exclusive Interview: ARTE’s Peter Boudgoust

PREMIUM: Peter Boudgoust, the president of ARTE GEIE, talks to TV Europe about ARTE’s unique programming mix and the importance of partnerships with the leading public broadcasters across Europe.

TV EUROPE: Tell us about ARTE’s mission and what it has brought to the European television landscape.
BOUDGOUST: ARTE was created at the beginning of the ’90s. The Berlin Wall had just fallen, the Soviet Union was collapsing and Europe was seeking a new equilibrium. This is the political context in which German Chancellor Kohl and French President Mitterrand believed it essential to reinforce Europe through culture and, more specifically, by means of a general public media: television. ARTE’s mission is to promote and encourage European culture, look at the world through European eyes, and strive to democratize culture among all types of audiences. Note that 85 percent of our programming is European in origin.

TV EUROPE: Besides French and German, in what other languages does ARTE offer programming?
BOUDGOUST: Since November 2015, ARTE has proposed a selection of programs subtitled in English and Spanish. This free offering is available on our website and connected-TV sets over the whole continent of Europe and—for a selection of programs—all over the world. In November, we will launch Polish subtitling. This marks an important milestone in ARTE’s European integration and its mission to broadcast high-quality television programs for a European audience.

TV EUROPE: How has ARTE supported filmmakers and artists?
BOUDGOUST: If you take a look at the list of directors and writers who work or have worked with ARTE, you’ll find the names of all the people who count in the German, French, European and even world film and television landscape. We were the first to support Lars von Trier and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others). We work with very well-known English-language documentary filmmakers such as Brian Lapping (Inside Obama’s White House) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In). In 25 years, three films co-produced by ARTE have won an Oscar, ten films have won the Palme d’Or in Cannes and five films the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

TV EUROPE: With so much turmoil in Europe, how can ARTE help to promote understanding between nations?
BOUDGOUST: The multiplicity of authors and different viewpoints expressed in our programs; our independence from any political or economic power; our feature-length formats; the fact that we give preference to analysis rather than “raw” news—all these elements contribute to fostering better understanding of our continent and dialogue between Europeans.

TV EUROPE: How does ARTE work with its partners to co-produce programs?
BOUDGOUST: ARTE France and ARTE Deutschland supply approximately 80 percent of the channel’s programming. ARTE GEIE is responsible for news and information programs. A program conference made up of members of ARTE Deutschland, ARTE France and ARTE GEIE meets every month and decides on which programs to produce or buy. Furthermore, we have special partnerships with the eight most important European public channels. These partnerships give us access to new topics and authors and allow us to strengthen ARTE’s roots and visibility in Europe.

TV EUROPE: What opportunities for growth do you see in the next 12 to 24 months?
BOUDGOUST: Over the last five years, the channel has made considerable efforts to rethink and boost its presence on the web, thanks to the development of digital technologies, and to raise its visibility in Europe. Our projects for the next few months are fully in line with this strategy of boosting our presence in the digital sphere and also our appeal to a broader European audience.