In a move to “optimise its infrastructure” TV d’Orange will be leaving the Eutelsat 5WA (AB3) and Eutelsat Hotbird satellites in the period starting May, 2016 and ending in December 2016.
The satellite-delivered DTH service TV d’Orange will in the future only be available on the Astra position of 19.2 degrees East.
In communication to its customers, TV d’Orange is advising its viewers to redirect the satellite dish towards Astra with a special page on its website. They can continue to use the same satellite receiver. Viewers are entitled to receive EUR60 compensation for the move if they require the use of an installer.
In a statement the operator said “Orange is the belief that our services can be shared by all. As such, the distribution of satellite TV remains fully complementary to the distribution by ADSL or fibre. This is also why we are strengthening our devices by focusing our platform on Astra.”
TV d’Orange by satellite is available as a service to those households that are not within the reach of Orange’s FttH and IPTV services.
The movement means that former Eutelsat viewers will lose a number of channels that are available on Eutelsat Hotbird, but not on Astra, such as numerous international free-to-air channels. On the other hand, Astra offers a large number of channels, including many FTA, that are not available on Hotbird.
