By Telecom Lead Team: SES, a satellite
operator with a fleet of 49 geostationary satellites, announced that TNTSAT,
the French digital terrestrial offer on satellite broadcast via ASTRA, reached
a total of 3.3 million receivers sold at the end of 2011.
Launched in March 2007, TNTSAT offer
supported the transition from analogue to digital reception which was completed
in November 2011 with the switch off in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
With TNTSAT, viewers are able to receive
the full French digital terrestrial offer, which includes 19 French free-to-air
channels and the 24 regional channels of France 3 and TV8 Mont Blanc, as well
as four channels in High Definition (HD). Viewers can also receive in a
free-to-air mode 10 additional French TV channels, 40 radio channels on the
French FM band, and 460 international TV and radio channels.
In order to receive TNTSAT, households need
a satellite dish pointed to the ASTRA orbital position 19.2 degrees East and a
TNTSAT receiver with a smart card.
More than 80 receiver models are currently
available, many of them equipped for HD. TNTSAT does not require a
subscription, or a decoder rental fee.
Most of the receivers are labeled
“CANAL READY” which means that they are able to receive CANAL+ and
CanalSat offers by simply replacing the receiver’s smart card.
Last year, SES announced that satellite increased its technical reach in Germany, its
largest single market, according to Satellite Monitor, a study that SES ASTRA
conducts on a European scale every year.
SES provides satellite communications
services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and
fixed network operators and business and governmental organizations worldwide.
