French pay-TV operator Canal+ will switch off all DTH subscribers to the channel in Switzerland and Belgium. The company wants to end this “grey market”, according to French press reports, as it does not have the rights to French speaking territories outside of mainland France.
All Canal+ subscribers have to have a valid address in France, otherwise they will be cut off, even if they still have a paid, running subscription. Following the take-over of the TPS DTH platform, Canal+ has stopped supplying smart cards to people who own rather than rent a Canal+ satellite receiver. TPS viewers were able to buy a receiver and so it was easy to take the set outside of France to continue to receive the signals.
Following the integration of TPS into Canal+, the existing TPS service will cease operation on July 31, 2008. Swiss viewers will only be able to subscribe to the Canal+ le Bouquet package, a number of thematic channels to which the Canal+ Group has the rights to sell in the territory.
