kspaz
11-06-08, 08:42 AM
Four major French terrestrial HD channels went live on Thursday.
Available free to air on the French DTT platform, private nets TF1 HD and M6 HD as well as pubcasters France 2 HD and Franco-German cultural net Arte HD join paybox Canal Plus HD, which launched in August.
TF1, M6 and France 2 will broadcast their HD streams over R5, a new MPEG-4 DVB-T multiplex system with 27 transmitters covering about 40% of the French population.
An additional 24 transmitters are planned to extend coverage to 60% by May.
Arte will be broadcasting from the R4 multiplex, which has around 80% national coverage.
existing DTT set-top boxes and integrated TVs will not be able to receive the new HD signal. Viewers wanting full-quality HD reception will need an MPEG-4-capable adapter.
An estimated 750,000 HD-ready TV sets have been sold in France so far this year, for a national total of around 7.2 million.
Screen Digest estimates that two million French households will be fully equipped with DTT HDTV by the end of 2009, increasing to four million by late 2012.
A recent report by media industry analysts Screen Digest stated that in the longer term, the bulk of the digital dividend spectrum (in France) is likely to be earmarked for HDTV, so that ultimately all free DTT channels (approximately 15) may be broadcast in HD soon after the analog switch-off, planned for the end of 2011.
Four French HD channels go live
Oct. 30, 2008,
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994948.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2584
Available free to air on the French DTT platform, private nets TF1 HD and M6 HD as well as pubcasters France 2 HD and Franco-German cultural net Arte HD join paybox Canal Plus HD, which launched in August.
TF1, M6 and France 2 will broadcast their HD streams over R5, a new MPEG-4 DVB-T multiplex system with 27 transmitters covering about 40% of the French population.
An additional 24 transmitters are planned to extend coverage to 60% by May.
Arte will be broadcasting from the R4 multiplex, which has around 80% national coverage.
existing DTT set-top boxes and integrated TVs will not be able to receive the new HD signal. Viewers wanting full-quality HD reception will need an MPEG-4-capable adapter.
An estimated 750,000 HD-ready TV sets have been sold in France so far this year, for a national total of around 7.2 million.
Screen Digest estimates that two million French households will be fully equipped with DTT HDTV by the end of 2009, increasing to four million by late 2012.
A recent report by media industry analysts Screen Digest stated that in the longer term, the bulk of the digital dividend spectrum (in France) is likely to be earmarked for HDTV, so that ultimately all free DTT channels (approximately 15) may be broadcast in HD soon after the analog switch-off, planned for the end of 2011.
Four French HD channels go live
Oct. 30, 2008,
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994948.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2584