During the regime of
Charles De Gaulle, television was seen as "the government in the dining room every evening", as the 8pm news bulletin often started with a report on his activities. Instead of opting for the
PAL format, France invented its own (
SECAM).. In October and November, 4 additional free channels were added: the 24h news channels
BFM TV and
I-Télé, the music and entertainment youth channel
Europe 2 TV, and the free children channel
Gulli, joint-venture between
Lagardère Active and France Télévisions. Pay channels were progressively added until March 2006:
TPS Star,
Paris Première,
Canal+ Sport,
Canal+ Cinéma(s),
AB1,
Planète,
TF6,
Canal J,
LCI and
Eurosport. Regional channels started to launch on the TNT in 13 September 2007. Due to the unsuccess of the pay-DTT, the terrestrial broadcast was abandoned by
AB1 in 30 October 2008 and
Canal J on 30 April 2009. On 14 December 2010, the CSA selected
CFoot to relaunch a pay terrestrial channel. This channel was owned by the
Ligue de Football Professionnel, to raise the stakes of French football leagues, and was launched in 28 July 2011 on the LCN 34 of the TNT (formerly assigned to AB1). With the arrival of
BeIN Sports, CFoot closed on 31 May 2012. In addition,
TPS Star closed in the same month. TF1 and M6 closed their pay channel
TF6 on 31 December 2014. In 21 January 2015,
Eurosport ceased its terrestrial broadcast after TF1 sold it to
Discovery. By 2012, the digital terrestrial television services were expected to cover at least 95% of the French metropolitan population. Five
high-definition (HD) channels (four
free-to-air and one subscription) were launched in October 2008 using also the
H.264 format. In September 2005,
pay television channels were launched that use the
MPEG-4 format, unlike most of Europe, which uses
MPEG-2.
Pay-per-view terrestrial channels use
H.264. TNT is the first service to implement
Dolby Digital Plus as an
audio codec on its high-definition channels. Viewers must buy a TV set (or
set-top box) that supports both MPEG-4
H.264 and DD+ to enjoy HD channels.
Analog broadcasts were
switched off on 30 November 2011 on all platforms, whether it is terrestrial,
satellite or
cable.
Overseas departments and territories (such as
French Guiana and
Martinique) also terminated all analog broadcasts on the same day.
DTT transition By 2008, 34% of the French population was using analogue TV as an only reception mode. The next year, the city of
Coulommiers switched to digital-only TV, serving as a test city for TDF. By the end of 2009, analog TV was shut off in the Nord
Cotentin, and TDF reported no major reception problems. Citizens in DTT test zones were informed that analog TV would shut down by early 2009, and consequently they adapted their installation. For the rest of the country, the shut-off progressed by regions, more precisely
France 3 regions. It means that every transmitters broadcasting
France 3 Méditerranée Provence-Alpes went digital-terrestrial on the same date, another date for those that broadcast
France 3 Bourgogne Franche-Comté. The analog shut-off occurred in 2010 in the north; the south was the last to phase out analog television broadcasts. For three months before shutting down an analogue transmitter, it transmitted the DTT
multiplexes so that viewers could adapt their installation on time. Also, a message was displayed as
marquee on analog channels warning the viewer that they would no longer receive TV if they did not switch to digital. To help people installing their DTT reception equipment, the French government created "France Télé Numérique". It made didactic videos, television advertisements, and went through the local markets, to meet people and solve their problems regarding DTT reception. Elderly people and those with restricted financial conditions, received help from the French government; so that they could switch to DTT easily. The most common adapters sold in the market only decode MPEG-2 and have only one
SCART output socket. Old TV sets (before 1980) need a UHF modulator between the TV and the set-top box, as they have no SCART socket. Unlike VCRs, DVB-T set-top boxes rarely include such a
modulator, and a SCART to RCA adaptor is often needed to feed the modulator with the signal. The solution recommended by France Télé Numérique is just to buy a new TV set instead of using a modulator. On 30 October 2008, the TNT HD was launched with four national channels:
TF1,
France 2,
M6 and
Arte. On 8 June 2010, the overseas France dedicated channel
France Ô became available nationally on TNT channel 19, taking the vacant frequencies of
AB1 which left the pay-DTT. Before, it was available locally in
Île-de-France starting from 24 September 2007. On 30 November 2010, the digital terrestrial television launched in
Overseas France, with 8 public channels:
La Première,
France 2,
France 3,
France 4,
France 5,
France Ô,
Arte and
France 24 (replaced by France Info on 8 April 2019). Most territories also have up to three local private channels. On 12 December 2012, six new HD national channels were launched (
HD1,
L'Équipe 21,
6ter,
Numéro 23,
RMC Découverte and
Chérie 25). On 5 April 2016, the Metropolitan France fully transitioned to
MPEG-4 with
HDTV for almost all channels, and
LCI became free-to-air. On 1 September 2016,
France Télévisions launched its news channel
France Info on channel 27. France Ô was downgraded to SD to make place for France Info.
France Ô closed on 24 August 2020.
France Info was upgraded to HD in Metropolitan France, and
La Première were upgraded to HD in Overseas France. On 1 February 2021, France Télévisions launched on channel 19, to promote cultural events during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
France 4 and France Info were downgraded to SD to make room on the multiplex. On 1 May, Culturebox starts timesharing with France 4, which returned to HD with France Info.
France 2 started to roll out its
Ultra HD feed in January 2024 on the DTT, after many experimental UHD tests from TDF since 2018, and France 3 UHD has also been available during the
2024 Summer Olympics. In 2024, the
ARCOM reviewed the DTT licences, and cancelled the frequencies from
C8 and
NRJ 12 which ended on 28 February 2025, on the main basis of their failure to fulfill their programming obligations, and reallocated them to new groups with Réels TV and OFTV projects then launched as
T18 and
Novo 19. As a consequence, Canal+ has cancelled the terrestrial licenses of all its pay channels which ended on 6 June 2025. The Arcom thus used this date to introduce its re-numbering, when the public services France 4 and
LCP-Public Sénat were reallocated to channels 4 and 8 respectively, creating a block of news channels from 13 to 16,
Gulli was awarded the channel 12, after
TFX which is partially aimed at the same target in morning time slots and T18 launched on its former slot. In same day, pay-TV
Paris Première was reallocated to channel 26. Novo 19 launched later on 1 September.
DTT on satellite TNT channels are also available for reception by satellite, broadcast from the
Astra satellites at
19.2° east with TNT SAT and from
Eutelsat 5 West B with FRANSAT. Some of the channels are encrypted but there is no subscription charge, and both the set-top box and viewing card (valid for four years) that are required are available from
hypermarkets. The Franco-German channel
Arte is available in free-to-air. During the
2010 FIFA World Cup,
France 2 and
France 3 were blacked out to viewers outside France.
France 2,
3 and
4 were also blacked out outside France during the
2018 FIFA World Cup when they shared French TV rights for the tournament with
TF1 and
beIN Sports. == Other technologies ==