Jet de Ranitz, NPO (left), and Bruno Patino, ARTE (right)
The agreement was signed on 19 January 2026 by Bruno Patino, Vice-President of ARTE GEIE and President of ARTE France, and Jet de Ranitz, Chair of the Board of NPO. The signing took place at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, alongside a concert recording by Sting for the ZDF/ARTE format Sting – Sounds Like Art.
Commenting on the agreement, Heike Hempel and Bruno Patino, President and Vice-President of the ARTE GEIE Executive Board, said the partnership underlined the importance of European cooperation. They pointed to future joint projects and co-productions, closer editorial exchange and the pooling of creative resources, which they said would enrich the offerings of both ARTE and NPO with new perspectives.
Jet de Ranitz described the deal as an important step for European cooperation between public service broadcasters. She said it demonstrated international confidence in the expertise of the Dutch public broadcaster and its creative community, while opening up new opportunities for Dutch productions to reach audiences across Europe. In a challenging budget environment, she added, ARTE’s commitment would help support high-quality co-productions for Dutch audiences and give their stories greater international visibility.
Under the agreement, which can be extended after an initial two-year term, ARTE and NPO plan to enrich their schedules with several co-productions each year. The association contracts also provide for partner organisations to participate in ARTE’s key governing bodies in an advisory capacity, including the General Assembly and the Programme Conference.
With the addition of NPO, ARTE’s partner network now includes broadcasters and organisations from across Europe, including Suspilne Ukraine, SVT (Sweden), LPM (Latvia), RTVE (Spain), LRT (Lithuania), Film Fund Luxembourg, RTÉ (Ireland), RAI Com (Italy), ČT (Czech Republic), ORF (Austria), YLE (Finland), SRG SSR (Switzerland) and RTBF (Belgium).
