How do I pick up English TV in France? UK television channels are transmitted in several ways. Traditionally the tall TV masts which are dotted around the UK, send out signals which house aerials pick up and direct to the television set. You will have no doubt heard that the UK is changing from analogue to digital. France is doing the same and there will be more information on that subject further in this editorial. More recently TV is broadcast via satellite, cable or even broadband. Unless your French property is very close to a UK transmitter (e.g. Jersey) then it will not be possible to get your signal with an aerial. However, a Freeview set can be used with a TV aerial to watch French digital channels. TV by cable or broadband is also not available in France for your UK channels. So that leaves us with the only option...satellite.


 So...what do I need? The equipment required is a satellite dish pointed in the right direction, cabling to your TV and a satellite receiver, commonly known as a “digibox” - not to be confused with a FREEVIEW box, which is a digital receiver for signals via an aerial.
The satellite dish The dish is designed to point directly at a group of satellites, which are stationary above the equator, known as Astra 2 at 28.2 degrees East. The satellites are about 33000 kilometres away so accurate positioning is essential. There should be no obstacles (trees, tall buildings etc) between the dish and the satellite. For a rough guide, the dish would point to where the sun is mid-morning. The size of the dish is important as this is the surface that collects the signal and focuses it on the LNB which is the electrical element on the end of the dish arm. The smaller the dish the less signal is collected.
 Many people bring their black mesh “mini-dish” (43cm) from the UK only to find that in bad weather conditions, the picture breaks up. This is because we are further away from where the signal is directed. It is common practice, with most satellite installers in Northern France, to install the slightly bigger dish, known as a Zone 2 (60cm), and this has been proven to almost eradicate poor quality reception. The LNB connects the dish to the digibox via a cable. It is important to understandthat a standard LNB can only supply one signal to one digibox. To combat this, multiple outlet LNBs are on the market with 2, 4 or even 8 outlets. Digiboxes come in many types. Probably the most well known of these is the Sky digibox, as this has been around for many years, however new technology is now here and many more receivers are readily available.

Can I use my English television set? Yes, you certainly can. It worked in the UK so will work with your UK system here. Prior to the digital changeover (see below) the television standards for France and the UK were different, but only in the sense that the aerial tuner was of a different format. As a digibox supplies signal to the SCART socket on your TV, it bypasses the tuner so a French or an English TV will do. As described earlier, a digibox supplies one signal to one television. A Sky digibox has the facility to feed an analogue signal to a second television – in this situation this second set would need a PAL “I” tuner (the UK standard) – so you can watch the same channel on both sets. As most modern television programmes are broadcast in wide screen (16:9) it would make sense when buying a new TV to get one that is of that format. When using an older style TV (4:3) you would miss a quarter of the action!

Will my British DVD player work with French DVDs? Yes – they are all the same region (region 2). Many French DVDs are available with the original sound track too.

Will I need a French TV Licence? French law states that if you have equipment capable of receiving television channels, then you need to pay for a TV licence (the licence fee for 2009 was116.50€). In France the licence is paid for with your Taxe d’Habitation bill and it is assumed that everyone has a television set, unless declared otherwise on your annual tax return.
 
The digital changeover. The digital changeover is, in part, to allow many more channels to be broadcast from a TV mast - some in High Definition. France is undertaking the same transformation and here it is called TNT. The satellite signal is sent digitally, which is why so many channels can be available, and the digibox decodes these so that your television can receive them via the SCART lead.

What digibox do I need? With plenty of options now available, this is where the can of worms opens... By far the cheapest option is the non-generic digibox, available from supermarkets and DIY stores in France. However, unless you are technically minded on such matters, these boxes can be problematic. They will often need to be rescanned to find new or changed channel frequencies, have no logic to their channel numbering and more importantly do not carry the 7 day programme planner. In many cases, people who have bought these soon upgrade to one of the following options. The digiboxes discussed below, whilst costing a little more, are very easy to use and need no maintenance as they receive automatic updates via the satellite. My theory is - if you buy cheap, you often buy twice! Until recently the main player in the digibox market had been the receiver designed to work with a Sky subscription, but in 2008 a new service called “Freesat” was launched by the BBC & ITV to offer an alternative. All of the following digiboxes will also allow you to listen to UK radio channels in superb digital quality too.