On the night of Monday January 28 to Tuesday January 29, 2019, technicians will be working on the nine sites of its main network on the occasion of the tenth phase of the digital terrestrial television (DTT) frequency rearrangement plan. For the duration of the operation, seventy technicians will be mobilized.
As a reminder, the DTT platform remains the leading mode of TV reception in France, with coverage of 97% of the population and 68% of households using it (IFOP survey-May 2018).
The area concerned by this new phase of redevelopment covers more than 3.9 million inhabitants in part of the Centre-Val-de-Loire and Pays-de-la-Loire regions (Cher, Loiret, Indre-et-Loire, Sarthe and Mayenne departments). Parts of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions, around the Yonne and Cantal departments, are also affected.
The main cities are Tours (37), Le Mans (72), Bourges (18), Orléans (45), Auxerre (89) and Aurillac (15).
Homes in these areas will need to perform an automatic channel scan to continue receiving all DTT channels.
An operation of precision and expertise
Current weather constraints and the vastness of this geographical area make this operation a delicate one. Interventions require expert know-how and precision. TDF technicians are mobilized before and on D-day to restore digital terrestrial television broadcasting as quickly as possible, to ensure continuity of service.
A supervision unit has been set up to closely monitor the entire operation at the 164 TDF sites concerned.
Operations will take place in two stages:
- At the 9 sites on TDF's main network, operations will take place between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Monday night, to enable as many viewers as possible to get their DTT channels back on Tuesday morning;
- At the other 155 sites on the complementary network, the work will continue until the end of the week.
The interventions will mainly concern changes to the multiplexing cell and modifications to the transmission configuration. On this occasion, TDF will modify 251 frequencies.
New frequencies for mobile operators
The rearrangement of DTT frequencies, which began in October 2017, is entering its tenth phase. DTT's 3,400 frequencies are gradually being rearranged to enable the transfer of the 700 MHz band to make new frequencies available to operators and thus provide better mobile coverage across France. Fifteen rearrangement phases are scheduled until June 2019. This nationwide frequency reorganization operation concerns all French households.
The Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, Occitanie, western Pays de la Loire, Grand Est, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions have already undergone DTT upgrades, as did the Île-de-France region in April 2016, at the time of the switchover to High Definition DTT. In each phase, the work was carried out successfully. This transfer of frequencies has enabled mobile operators to roll out their 4G networks in the 700 MHz band.