FRANSAT FROM EUTELSAT
A bouquet of subscription-free DTT channels is now available across
France via ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3 at 5° West
In this extended Take Cover we focus on
FRANSAT, Eutelsat’s new satellite service
offering French DTT channels across
metropolitan France. Over the page, Jean-Luc Deroudilhe, FRANSAT’s Chief Operating
Officer, explains why Eutelsat has made this
exceptional move.
Eutelsat marked summer with the launch of
FRANSAT on its ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3
satellite located at 5° West. This orbital
position has been delivering French national
analogue channels to terrestrial transmitters
for more than 20 years. Over this period a
large installed base of Direct-to-Home and
community satellite antennas has developed
to deliver these channels directly to homes in
areas beyond terrestrial reception.
FRANSAT principally addresses the 10-15%
of TV homes in metropolitan France that will
be unable to receive terrestrial DTT or who will
have poor reception with the definitive switch-off
of terrestrial analogue broadcasting,
scheduled for 30 November 2011.
Put together by Eutelsat and packaged as ‘FRANSAT’, there are two offers: a basic
package of 18 SD channels, and an HD
version that includes the four free DTT
channels broadcast in HD (TF1 HD, France
2 HD, ARTE HD and M6 HD). Available on
a subscription-free basis, viewers simply
need to buy a FRANSAT pack comprising
a decoder and access card, that are
widely available across France at multiple
retail outlets, with particular emphasis on
availability in rural areas with limited access
to TV channels.
Digital France 2012 Plan
The transition to digital of France’s
longstanding neighbourhood reflects the ‘Digital France 2012 Plan’ and the new
broadcasting law of March 5, 2009, which
aims to offer a solution to French homes
located in areas with poor terrestrial reception.
FRANSAT will enable viewers in these
regions to access DTT channels via satellite
without incurring the extra cost of adjusting
their existing dish installation. France’s free
analogue channels continue to broadcast via
ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3.
Jean-Luc Deroudilhe comments: “By offering
all French free DTT channels to homes
beyond range of terrestrial reception, Eutelsat
is demonstrating its ambition to support the
seamless transition to digital for all French
homes, and to pursue the universal service
mission of our 5° West neighbourhood.
Satellite technology has once again illustrated
how it can complement terrestrial networks
and play a key role at the heart of the digital
economy.”
FRANSAT HIGHLIGHTS
All free-to-air DTT channels, including
HDTV channels
FRANSAT offers access to France’s 18
national DTT channels, as well as to the
regional DTT channel, France Ô, and the four
HD channels: TF1 HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD,
ARTE HD.
A subscription-free service with no time-limit
Based on the same model as terrestrial
DTT, satellite reception of France’s free DTT
channels via FRANSAT is subscription-free
and not time-limited.
A solution for homes unable to receive
DTT terrestrially
For homes equipped with a dish fitted with a
universal LNB to receive France’s six national
analogue channels via ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3,
by replacing their analogue decoder with a
digital FRANSAT Pack they will get instant
access to France’s free DTT channels with no
change to their dish.
A broad range of decoders to meet all
needs and budgets
Four manufacturers and distributors (Aston,
Metronic, Servimat, Wisi) are already providing
labelled FRANSAT decoders tailored to endusers’ needs.
A non-proprietary system open for multireception
FRANSAT-labelled decoders are designed
to give users full freedom to deploy their
equipment, in compliance with laws for
interoperability of reception equipment.
Technical solutions for community
reception
A single cable per home is sufficient to
distribute all television and radio channels in
a community building. Users simply connect
their FRANSAT decoder into the plug-in
socket.
