What has the EU ever done for us? Well, from this week onwards you can add ‘free high quality documentaries, magazine shows and opera programs’ to your list, if you like the sound of these, and you like to compile lists.

Launched in the UK at Sheffield Doc Fest, ARTE in English and ARTE en Espanol allow viewers to watch, for free, a selection of programs subtitled in English and Spanish that were previously only available to ARTE’s French and German audiences. They can be watched throughout the world, online via ARTE’s website or with a smart TV, with new programs becoming available every week.

ARTE has been broadcasting creative documentaries, magazine shows (including ARTE Reportage, focused on international news, and Metropolis, an exploration of European art and culture), and live performances of music, dance, theatre, and opera in its ARTE Concert strand, in French and German for many years, and these remain available on arte.tv (select in German or French from the ‘all of arte.tv’ drop-down menu). Cinephiles and arts and culture enthusiasts who have known about ARTE’s output have long been asking for their programming to be made available more widely. Thanks to European Union funding, many of their programs are now available to an international audience for the first time, and the great news is, whichever way the UK votes on the 23rd June, access to these programs will remain.

Go to www.arte.tv to take a look. There is even a program on Brexit.