Alsace first French region to be all digital

The Alsace region of France will be the first to see analogue television switch-off in late 2009, according to Eric Besson, the country’s secretary of state for development of the digital economy. Before the complete switchover, there will be three small-scale changeovers.

These three pilot changeovers are scheduled to take place in Coulommiers at the end of this year, in Kaysersberg, Alsace, in the second quarter 2009 and in the region of Cherbourg. The pilots will affect approximately 100,000 people and are meant to monitor any problems in the process.

After Alsace, analogue broadcasting will stop in Lorraine, Champagne-Ardenne and Franche – Comté. Also, in 2010 changeover will take place in the west of France, specifically in the regions of Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Basse-Normandie.

The majority of the freed-up spectrum will be allocated to “the services of the future of the audiovisual world,” said Eric Besson, especially for DTT-HD and mobile TV.

The French government plans the creation of a total of 11 multiplexes, with a coverage of 95% of the population, and two networks dedicated to personal mobile services reaching a potential 70% of the population. There will be room for 66 DTT channels.

The plan also assigns the entire band Band III (174-233 MHz), which will be released in late 2010 to digital radio.

At the end of July, about 57.8% of households were equipped for the reception of digital TV, with at least one receiver and 29.9% of homes completely dependent on digital.