On April 7th French public broadcaster France 2 will go 16:9 widescreen, at least on some platforms. Commercial broadcasters TF1 and M6 already transmit all of their programmes in widescreen. The changeover is not on all platforms: France 2 decided to use 14:9 for analogue terrestrial transmissions in order to reduce the letterbox effect. Also, CanalSat will continue to broadcast the channel in 4:3 over its DTH platform as the operator no longer accepts new widescreen channels that do not broadcast in HD. So France 2 in 16:9 will for the moment only be available on DTT, cable and IPTV.
About Robert Briel
Arnhem-based Robert covers the Benelux, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as IPTV, web TV, connected TV and OTT. Email Robert at rbriel@broadbandtvnews.com.