A nationwide plan
From January to early April 2024, the first three phases of deployment had already provided partial coverage of Ile-de-France, Pays de la Loire, Bretagne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence Alpes-Côte d'Azur, as well as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Réunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, Mayotte and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
Further transmitters will be put into service until July 2024, to eventually cover around 70% of the population. France 3 will also be available in UHD from July 10 to September 10, 2024.
A major development for DTT
Viewers in these areas, equipped with compatible TV sets, can now receive France 2 programs in Ultra High Definition (on channel 52 in mainland France and channel 22 in the French overseas territories).
UHD technology (also known as 4K) offers viewers an image definition four times greater than High Definition, as well as an improved contrast ratio (HDR), a wider color range, a higher frame rate and more immersive sound. For this broadcast, TDF uses broadcast and compression standards that are more efficient than current DTT standards (DVB-T2 and HEVC).
TDF, technological pioneer of the DTT platform
Free, anonymous, freely accessible and of the highest quality, the DTT platform is a major TV reception mode in France, with coverage of 97% of the population.
It's also a greener, more energy-efficient way of receiving television than over the Internet.
For many years, TDF has been working alongside TV channels, equipment manufacturers and other industry players to reinvent DTT broadcasting and enable it to incorporate the latest image, sound and interactivity technologies. UHD is one of the key elements of this evolution.
Ahead of this eagerly-awaited launch, TDF has been carrying out numerous UHD broadcast tests since 2018 to experiment with and demonstrate the performance of new broadcast formats and technologies (UHD definition, more immersive sound, improved contrast ratio, etc.), both in mainland France and overseas.
To receive DTT in UHD
To benefit from this broadcast, users with compatible TV sets will need to carry out an automatic or manual channel search on their TV.
The ma TNT website, published by TDF (https://www.matnt.tdf.fr), enables users to check precisely whether their area is covered by UHD, and to identify the frequencies used for this broadcast, which complements the 31 channels broadcast on TNT.
Karim El Naggar, Managing Director of the TDF Group's Audiovisual and Networks BU, comments: "On behalf of all the teams at TDF, I am delighted that we are continuing to roll out Ultra High Definition on DTT, with our customer and partner France Télévisions. DTT is a way of broadcasting television that's free for viewers, more environmentally-friendly and accessible to everyone, everywhere in France. It's also a technology of the future to which TDF has been actively contributing for several years. With UHD, we're taking a new step forward, working with the channels to meet the expectations of French viewers and the new uses and consumption patterns of television".