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How to Watch French TV in the UK

"There are over 55 satellites in simultaneous orbit over Europe transmitting simply about every language and from every country you can picture. French is well catered for with 3 satellites covering all European area, French residents residing in or out of France can get, with domestic size dish antenna of less than 1 metre size, these signals with the minimum of equipment.

Within France most of the country is covered by the typical terrestrial transmitters and an aerial is all that is required to choose up all the main French channels, such as TF1, France 2 etc. Those living in remote corners or often in developed locations, with bad aerial reception, have to use the satellite systems to get them. Outdoors France obviously only the satellites are functional.

Hotbird, Astra 1 and Atlantic Bird3 are the three satellites used for all the French services. These are various suppliers, however generally disperse the exact same group of channels. TNTsat and FranSat have similar lists of channels consisting of TF1, France 2, France3, France4, France5, France o, Arte, direct 8, Monte Carlo and a lot more.

A third service by the service provider BIS is available on both Atlantic Bird and Hotbird satellites. At the moment the signals from Hotbird are sent in MPeg4 format, which is typically utilized for HD, whereas the Atlantic Bird transmission is the older Mpeg2, so with an HD receiver the photos from Hotbird are extremely good certainly. Unusually the TF1 channel, which is in HD on both TNTsat and FranSat is presently only in Mpeg2 (standard definition) on Hotbird. The main 4 channels TF1, France2, M6 and Arte are duplicated on HD channels on both TNT and Fransat.

When receiving the French channels in the Uk, which system should you pick? The TNT and FranSat deal of 18 channels (plus a couple of more freebies) is really appealing. Most likely the least hassle is FranSat who don't put a time limitation on their card, unlike TNTsat which will expire after 4 years, however the renewal charge after the 4 year duration is only 15 Euros, so there is only the little issue of really restoring it. This is done for many French citizens on-line, on the TNT website, however you need to be in French territory to be qualified to use the site, so before the renewal dates are due, lets hope there is a procedure to enable Uk TNT watchers a method of renewal in location.

The set top boxes are now common in Darty and other electronic devices stores across France and the majority of grocery stores too at around 120Euros for the SD basic definition box. Do not get confused with the terrestrial boxes though if buying in France, ensure that you are buying a satellite set top box. There are some boxes with very few extra functions beyond the fundamental setup and some which can be used on more than one satellite and can be much better organised into numerous 'favourite' groups, beneficial if you are enjoying different languages. The majority of receivers readily available today are fine, however there are still some early boxes around with poor remotes and dependability problems.

BIS despite its annual subscription charges, provides at least 3 different cards. The base card is the Panorama, costing around 100 Euro and entitling the user to all the normal French channels to be found on the TNT platform. Next is the Cinerama, at around 160 Euros, likewise has the film channels from the AB sat platform - Cine FX, Cine First, Cine Polar and Action. Added too are channels like Orange Sport tv, Animeaux, Game One, L'histoire and RTL 9. Finally the leading package includes adult home entertainment to the mix. BIS is provided as a pre paid card so the years payment is 'up front' and there is no telephone call needed to activate the card, merely insert into your Viaccess decoder card slot and rely on Hotbird or Atlantic Bird.

Last but not least there is constantly the free channels alternative. With an excellent satellite receiver and dish with several LNBs or a motorised dish antenna, it is possible to get a great choice of the primary and some of the smaller channels without an unique box or a subscription, as long as you are not wanting TF1 or M6 channel, such a system will still receive some 30 possible French channels consisting of France2 and 3, ARTE (likewise French language from other countries throughout North Africa.)"