France's seven main legacy broadcasters – TF1, France 2, France 3, Canal +, France 5, Arte and M6 – have agreed to a simultaneous switching off of the analogue signal currently carried by Eutelsat's Atlantic Bird 3.

The move will coincide with the digital switchover of the last region in metropolitan France – Languedoc-Roussillon – scheduled for November 2011 for all channels, except Canal +, which has a specific timetable and may be in a position to bring forward the switch by a number of months.

All affected channels will be continue to be freely available – in addition to their digital terrestrial carriage – via digital satellite from two orbital positions: Astra 1 at 19.2 degrees East (TNTSAT) and Atlantic Bird 3 at 5 degrees West (FRANSAT). 24 regional variations of France 3 are also available.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, DTH/Satellite