Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

was introduced in 1931, when the first experimental broadcasts began. Colour television was introduced in October 1967 on La Deuxième Chaîne.

Digital terrestrial television

The digital terrestrial television platform, known locally as TNT (from the literal translation in French, ''télévision numérique terrestre''), was launched on 31 March 2005 after a short testing period. Like Freeview in the UK, it provides many new channels, as well as the current terrestrial television stations. Like the rest of Europe, France uses the

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...

transmission technology. The 13 first digital free channels were launched on 31 March 2005. In October, 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 Lagardère may refer to: Companies * Lagardère Group, a French media group ** Lagardère Live Entertainment, an entertainment agency subsidiary ** Lagardère News, the media activities arm ** Lagardère Publishing, the book publishing arm People ...

and France Télévisions. Pay channels were progressively added until 2006: TPS Star,

Paris Première Paris Première is a French TV channel, available on cable television, cable, satellite television, satellite and the Digital terrestrial television, digital terrestrial service, Télévision Numérique Terrestre. It was launched on 15 December 1 ...

, Canal+ Sport, Canal+ Cinéma, AB1, Planète, TF6, Canal J, LCI and

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. Regional channels started to launch on the TNT in 2007. Due to the unsuccess of the pay-DTT, the terrestrial broadcast was abandoned by AB1 in 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 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 early 2015,

ceased its terrestrial broadcast after TF1 sold it to

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The 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 Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

and one subscription) were launched in October 2008 using also the H.264 format. In September 2005,

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channels were launched that use the

MPEG-4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related ...

format, unlike most of Europe, which uses

MPEG-2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods ...

Pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

terrestrial channels use H.264. TNT is the first service to implement Dolby Digital Plus as an

audio codec An audio codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream (a codec) that encodes or decodes audio. In software, an audio codec is a computer program implementing an algorithm that compresses and decompres ...

on its high-definition channels. Viewers must buy a TV set (or

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

) 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 A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

. Overseas departments and territories (such as

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

) 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 The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its west lie the Gu ...

, 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 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

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 SCART (also known as or , especially in France, 21-pin EuroSCART in marketing by Sharp Corporation, Sharp in Asia, Euroconector in Spain, EuroAV or EXT, or EIA Multiport in the United States, as an EIA interface) is a French-originated standard ...

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 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

, M6 and

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

. On 8 June 2010, the overseas France dedicated channel

France Ô France Ô () was a French free-to-air television channel featuring programming from the French overseas departments and collectivities in Metropolitan France. It was part of the France Télévisions group. It was a national counterpart of the ...

became available nationally on TNT channel 19, taking the vacant frequencies of the pay channel AB1 which left the pay-DTT. Before, it was available locally in

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

starting from 24 September 2007. On 30 November 2010, the digital terrestrial television launched in

Overseas France Overseas France (, also ) consists of 13 France, French territories outside Europe, mostly the remnants of the French colonial empire that remained a part of the French state under various statuses after decolonisation. Most are part of the E ...

, with 8 public channels: La Première,

, France 4,

France 5 France 5 () is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring nonfiction and educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowl ...

and

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

(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 ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby football, rugby, motorsport, and cycle sport, c ...

, 6ter, Numéro 23, RMC Découverte and Chérie 25). On 5 April 2016, the Metropolitan France fully transitioned to

with

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

for almost all channels, and LCI became free-to-air. On 1 September 2016,

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

launched its news channel France Info on channel 27. France Ô was downgraded to SD to make place for France Info.

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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 upgraded to HD with France Info.

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 A hypermarket or superstore is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full grocery store, grocery lines and product (bu ...

. The Franco-German channel

arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

is available free-to-air at During the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, 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 The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

when they shared French TV rights for the tournament with

and beIN Sports.

Other technologies

Most

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s in France now offer

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

(

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

) packages through triple-play

as part of fibre link packages or DSL link packages. However, some DSL subscribers have too much

attenuation distortion Attenuation distortion is the distortion of an analog signal that occurs during transmission when the transmission medium does not have a flat frequency response across the bandwidth of the medium or the frequency spectrum of the signal.Rowe, Sta ...

on their lines to benefit from the service, and France does not yet have 100%

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

coverage. The main IPTV providers are Orange, SFR, Free and Bouygues Telecom. French cable providers France Telecom Cable, Noos SA and UPC France SA and Numericable merged to become the largest cable operator in France which was then merged info SFR. SFR cable offer is part of their very high speed offer and provides

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

and

using FTLA approach EuroDocsis 3.0 compatible set top boxes. Digital satellite television in

was launched in 1996.

transmissions began in April 2006, when CanalSat launched its first HD channel (Canal+ HD). Télévision Par Satellite and CanalSat have merged in 2007, leaving Nouveau Canalsat and Bis Télévisions as the two main competitors for the

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

market in the country.

Media groups

Dominant groups

Four companies dominate the French TV market: * Groupe TF1 (owned by

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

), which owns

, TMC, TFX (formerly NT1),

TF1 Séries Films TF1 Séries Films, formerly HD1 (acronym for ''Histoire de'') is a French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group. HD1 launched on TNT, satellite, and xDSL on 12 December 2012. History Proposed new TNT channels With the shutdown of analogue telev ...

(formerly HD1), and LCI *

, which regroups state-owned channels meaning

, France 4/ Culturebox,

, franceinfo: and 45% of

's shares * Groupe M6 (owned by

RTL Group RTL Group S.A. ("Radio Télévision Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate office in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany, France an ...

), which owns M6, W9, 6ter and Gulli * Canal+ S.A., which owns CNews and CStar

Other important groups

* RMC BFM (owned by CMA CGM): BFM TV, RMC Story, RMC Découverte, and many BFM regional declensions *

NRJ Group The NRJ Group (NRJ is an acronym read as ''énergie'' in French language, French, pronounced ) () is a French multimedia group based in Paris. Its founders are Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini. Since its foundation in 1981 as a Culture o ...

: Chérie 25

Minor group

* Groupe Amaury (

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor, '' ...

) * CMI France ( T18) * Groupe Sipa – Ouest-France ( Novo 19) 2022groupratings

Viewing shares

Yearly viewing shares in 2022 (not including subscription channels): LCP-Public Sénat is uncounted because it is not destined to be profitable. France 4 shares its canal with Culturebox since May 3, 2021 and is no longer counted in the ratings.

References

{{#related:Television in Belgium