French manufacturer Aston has unveiled the first satellite receiver for the new TNTSat service, which will become available in a number of French overseas departments and regions (the so-called DOM-TOM) from November 30.
The new DTH platform will make available a bouquet of channels that are part of the French national DTT networks (called TNT), as well as regional broadcasters in MPEG-4 with Viaccess 3.0 encryption.
The Aston receiver is called Simba HD Outre-Mer and can handle the SD and HD broadcasts of the channels. HD versions will become available in 2011. All current MPEG-2 broadcasts will cease on December 1.
Viewers just need a receiver and a smart card in order to receive the channels for free. The Simba HD Outre-Mer is “PVR ready”, which means that programmes can be recorded using an external storage unit, either a USB stick or hard drive. It is the only approved receiver available.
The bouquet will offer all channels from France Télévisions (France2, France3, France4, France5, France Ô), Arte, France 24 (in French) and the regional broadcasters Polynésie 1ère, Nouvelle Calédonie 1ère, Guyane 1ère, Guadeloupe 1ère, Martinique 1ère, Mayotte 1ère, Réunion 1ère, Saint-Pierre & Miquelon 1ère, Wallis and Futuna 1èr.
