TNTSat reports 2.3 million receivers sold

SES Astra has announced that the French digital terrestrial channel offer on satellite, TNTSat, broadcast via Astra reported a total of 2.3 million receivers sold at the end of June 2010. Between June 2009 and June 2010 alone, 800,000 receivers were sold.

The channel offer was launched in March 2007 and is available at the Astra position of 19.2 degrees East. With TNTSat, viewers are able to receive the full bouquet of the French digital terrestrial offer: 18 free-to-air channels plus France O, the 24 regional channels of France 3, as well as four free-to-view channels in HD, TF1 HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD and Arte HD. All channels are encrypted but free-to-view after acquiring a smart card and a compatible satellite receiver.

“The consistently strong growth shows that French households outside the reach of terrestrial networks adopt TNTSat as a solution to easily switch to digital television,” said Ferdinand Kayser, president and CEO of SES Astra, in a statement. “With the ongoing transition to digital television, further growth can be expected in the second half of 2010 and in 2011.”

A similar service, called Fransat, is available on the Eutelsat satellites, on its Atlantic Bird position at 5 degrees West.