Poland

[PL] Closer Co-operation with ARTE

IRIS 2000-8:1/16

Alexander Scheuer

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

Polish public television corporation Telewizja Polska SA (TVP) is strengthening its co-operation with the European cultural TV channel ARTE.

The basic guidelines for co-operation between TVP and ARTE were originally established by an agreement signed in 1996. TVP thus became the first public service broadcaster in Central and Eastern Europe to reach such an agreement with the Franco-German channel. ARTE (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne) was founded in 1991 as a consortium of European economic interests (GEIE) by its two equal shareholders ARTE Deutschland TV GmbH and ARTE France.

On 1 January 2000 a so-called "agreement of association" came into force, making provision for TVP representatives to be more involved in ARTE committees, improved broadcasting conditions for ARTE in Poland and closer co-operation in future programme development and production.