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A quick guide to English language TV in France

The only way to receive english language TV in France is to set up a satellite dish. Whilst the dish size for Paris and the Northern part of France is very small (45 – 50 cm) further down in the South you will need a larger dish of 80 to 110 cm. You can get all the BBC channels, ITV, channel 4, five, Sky sports etc. The solution is either taking your existing satellite digital box with you to France, or buying both the equipment and installation from a specialised dealer in France. Find out more ...

I live in a listed area, dishes are not allowed ...

Well, it seems that new technologies help bypass the dish permission... Smart, small and discrete units which are not dishes will allow you to watch Sky digital TV or Freesat even in listed areas with restrictions. Find out more ...

Can I bring my english tv set here in France?

English TV's are built to use the PAL I color system and will work fine for the UK satellite in France. However most of them will not receive the French analog SECAM transmissions. Most of the recent models english TV sets have a built-in digital tuner which will bypass the secam trouble and will pick up to 24 digital French channels depending on signal coverage. Anyway the digital switchover in France is planned for 2010 when Secam will definitely go in the past...

Older english TV’s can also be adapted to receive French digital transmissions through an inexpensive adaptor (external digital tuner). Have in mind that French cable TV and DSL TV boxes can also be configured to PAL output. So in 95 % of the cases a british TV set can be adapted to receive french TV as well. Moving to France is costly enough, so bringing your english TV set to France will save you some money without worrying about the different voltage. more ...