It’s November 2011 and, at the end of this month, all of the analogue terrestrial TV transmitters will have been switched off and France will be All Digital. The last French region to go will be the Languedoc-Roussillon and the French president will be on hand to wave analogue goodbye.
Also, the French satellite analogue transmissions will come to end at the end of this month … if you receive your French TV by this method, you’ll have to make some changes fairly quickly.
French analogue TV is transmitted from the Atlantic Bird satellite at 5° west of south, some still refer to this satellite by its old name of Télécom 2. It carries the five main channels, TF1, France 2, France 3 National, Arté and M6 and these will cease in analogue form. If you wish to continue watching French tv for free, then there is plenty of choice:
FRANSAT: This is a digital service from the same Atlantic Bird satellite that is currently being used for the analogue service … therefore, a Fransat box will simply replace your current analogue box. In some cases, eg if your dish is extremely ancient, you might need to change the LNB but the dish will still be pointing in the right direction. Fransat will give you all the TNT channels including your choice of region for France 3 and you can also take the opportunity of upgrading to High Definition.
French TV on satellite is mainly encrypted and the necessary viewing card (which is free) is included when you buy a Fransat box. Only a box carrying the FRANSAT logo will work on the Atlantic Bird satellite.
TNTSAT: This is a rival digital service running from the Astra 1 satellite at 19°East but still giving you the same TNT channels including the regional France 3 of your choice plus the opportunity to upgrade to High Definition. French digital channels are also encrypted on Astra 1 and the necessary free viewing card is included when you purchase the box which must have the TNTSAT logo on it.
Finally, there’s TNT which is the terrestrial digital service equivalent to FreeView in the UK and which you get via a traditional ‘rateau’ style aerial. To check if your area is covered by the TNT network, have a look at the website at the end of this section. If you are covered, then all you need is an aerial and a TNT equipped television … failing that, a TNT set top box.
To check if you are in a TNT area: [www.tnttest.org](http://www.tnttest.org). TNTSAT and FRANSAT boxes are available from our on-line [shop](http://www.bigdishsat.com/store/index.php?goto=catalog&cat=33).
Remember that the Analogue TV switch off, both here in France and the UK, does not affect the way British TV is received by satellite. Your Sky digibox, your Freesat box and your Free-to-Air boxes will carry on receiving British telly and radio.