Last night, 150 TDF technicians and engineers were mobilized to bring HD DTT to French homes.
By 6 a.m., all the technical operations linked to the switchover to MPEG4 and the reduction from 8 to 6 multiplexes had been successfully completed.
For TDF, these operations involvedupgrading the national and regional headends to the 1,627 transmitters in the DTT network, restoring the signals in the new configuration, and opening up band 700 for mobile networks in the Ile-de-France region.
By 8:00 a.m., almost all French people had access to all DTT channels in HD.
Last night also saw the final roll-out of the R7 multiplex. As of today, the six new DTT channels will be available in the Rhône-Alpes region, and partially in the departments of Ain, Ardèche, Drôme, Isère, Loire, Haute-Loire, Rhône, Savoie and Haute-Savoie (some switch-ons are scheduled between April 5 and 8, 2016). The R7 multiplex will then have national coverage equivalent to the other multiplexes.
For Olivier Huart, "the switchover to DTT HD was a real technological challenge, achieved just 6 months after the law modernizing DTT was passed. Our teams, with their expertise and unfailing commitment, rose to the challenge throughout the 8 months. Once again, TDF has demonstrated its commitment and professionalism in carrying out projects with tight deadlines.