The French media authority CSA has chosen the six HD channels that will broadcast free-to-air on the French DTT network.
The six new channels will be HD1 from the TF1 Group, 6Ter from the M6 Group, Chérie HD from the NRJ Group, NextRadioTV will launch RMC Découverte, the Groupe Amaury sports channel L’Equipe HD and newcomer TVous La Diversité (from the Société Diversité TV France).
The six new channels will bring the total number of FTA channels on the DTT platform to 25. The licences will be issued before the end of May 2012. Broadcasters need to start transmissions before the end of the year.
It is expected that by the second quarter of 2013 around 50% of all DTT viewers will be reached with the two new muxes, while in 2014 a technical reach of 97% is expected.
French viewers already have access to a number of HD channels on DTT, including TF1 HD, France 2 HD, M6 HD, Arte HD and, as a pay service, Canal+ HD. The six new channels will bring the total number of terrestrial HD channels to 11.
CSA, the French regulator, has posted videos of all the presentations of the HD applicants on its website. A list of all the videos can be found here. The videos can be accessed by clicking on the name of the project. (NOTE – all presentations are in French)
