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Now that satellite, cable, digital and internet television have firmly established themselves in much of Europe, including Switzerland and France, traditional analogue broadcasts (the so-called “terrestrial” programmes you have been receiving using rooftop antennae) are being phased out. According to satellite TV specialist John Sidwell, whose pieces have been appearing regularly in The Essential Edge, the Great Switch Off has now started in the UK and France. And as usual, Sidwell offers vital information on sujects such as Sky digiboxes, Broadband via Satellite, and the new French-languare film channel, Cinemoi, with English subtitles. For those who have not been following Sidwell's advice, you can find his previous articles  on receiving BBC, ITV and other British channels on The Essential Edge.

The Great Switch Off of analogue transmitters has already prompted many phone calls from concerned clients who want to know how their television viewing will be affected. The main point to bear in mind is that the Analogue Switch Off refers to terrestrial TV transmitters, so if you are receiving UK television in France via satellite then nothing is going to change.

The United Kingdom and France have started the gradual transition to digital transmissions on their respective terrestrial transmitters. For both countries, this should be completed by the end of 2011.The borders region of the UK was the first to have the analogue transmitters shut off. It now relies wholly on digital transmissions, or FreeView as it is called in the UK. In France, the town of Coulommiers in the department of Seine et Marne has gone completely digital, or TNT.

All UK television transmissions on satellite are already digital. Your digibox, freesat box or free-to-air box convert the signals so that your analogue TV can watch them. There will be no need for you to change any equipment when the analogue switch off date arrives. This can be confusing to some of our more senior citizens in France especially as they hear on the news that they will have to change their equipment very soon. It’s important to reassure everyone in France receiving UK television via satellite that they don’t have to worry about changing any equipment if they don’t want to. It will carry on working.

The French analogue transmissions on Atlantic Bird will shut down after the terrestrial transmitters have closed in November 2011. By then, the TNT network will be in place to provide terrestrial digital channels to most of France. For those not covered, such as in the Pays de Gex outside Geneva, there will be satellite alternatives in the form of TNTSAT and Bis TV, both of which are available right now.

Sky Viewing Cards

Cast your minds back to 2003 and you’ll remember when the last Sky card changeover took place. I certainly remember those irritating on screen messages during the Test Matches of that year. Well, it’s all going to happen again this year when the contractual renewal of cards takes place. This will probably start in April, 2009. If you have a Sky contract, in other words paying monthly or annually for Sky subscription channels, then a new Sky card will be sent to the UK address where Sky think you are.

If you had the very good sense to use a friend or relative to act as your ‘postbox’, then they will receive the card and they can forward it on to you in France. You just remove the old card and replace it with the new one. It’s highly unlikely that you will have any problems or that your viewing will be interrupted. However, if you have paid an agent or dealer to arrange your Sky subscription, then there could be complications.

This has all to do with Sky’s crackdown on rogue dealers in the UK and the knock on effect to equally dishonest satellite installers here in France and elsewhere. You may have noticed that some installers here have been forced recently into stopping the selling of Sky cards. However, there are still some of the larger dealers who are persisting in taking their clients’ money in the full knowledge that their activity … and that of the UK dealers supplying them. They are now being actively pursued by Sky.

The warning signs are adverts and websites that claim that Sky subscriptions and cards can be arranged. Any installer doing this and taking money is just plain dishonest. Sky has already indicated that it won’t be renewing cards that have been arranged by the rogue installers who have arranged ‘accommodation’ addresses. This means that many folk out there won’t have their cards renewed this year.

The fact that you, gentle reader, are reading this means that you are unlikely to be affected by the problems which will inevitably arise. Since Sky Digital started over 10 years ago, we have always advised our clients that you should use a friend or relative to arrange a Sky subscription. So, for those who have done this, you should have no problems when the new cards are issued in a couple of months time.

No one is absolutely sure what will happen to the Freesat-from-Sky cards. If they were issued less than three years ago, then they will probably be replaced. It should be no great drama if they aren’t replaced as the main five UK channels are now free-to-air anyway. In fact, the only channels for which this card is necessary for are Five USA, Fiver, Sky Three and Setanta Sports News. Sky (see this link) has launched a website specifically dealing with the new cards.

Freesat Plus

The supply of Freesat+ boxes seems to be over the initial problems experienced in January and early February. Supplies are now coming through on a regular basis and the product is being generally well received. It’s not cheap, however, at 375 euros but it’s a truly stunning piece of kit. The main attraction is the ability to be able to record one channel while another one is being watched - and in High Definition of course. In this particular household, the ability of being able to record radio programmes in advance is particularly appreciated.

Cordless Speakers

We have been supplying Vivanco cordless speakers for quite a while now and they have proved to be an extremely popular way of getting UK radio stations transmitted around the house and garden. They consist of a small transmitter unit which connects to a digibox, freesat box or free-to-air box and the radio station selected is then transmitted to two speakers which are positioned in the bathroom, kitchen, garden, workshop etc. We’ve supplied a few hundred of these speakers but suffered a ‘rupture de stock’ in December and supplies have only just started coming in again.

For those interested in demographic profiling, most of our customers want the speakers for the Today programme on Radio 4 and Terry Wogan on Radio 2. Naturally, at Big Dish Towers, Radio 4 is the station of preference but Radio Caroline, still a fine album station, can be heard on Mail Order packing days. A pair of Cordless speakers is 89,99 euros.

Broadband via Satellite

Nordnet has launched a new internet via satellite package to complement their existing no-contract products. All the equipment, which normally has to be paid for up front, is issued free of charge. The download speed is set at a maximum of 2Mb/s with monthly payments at just under 35 euros per month. There are a couple of catches.

First, you have to commit yourself to a 24 month contract. Second, there is a monthly download and upload limit of 2Gb. After that amount is achieved, the service cuts off until the monthly meter resets to zero. 2 Gb is sufficient to send and receive 2,000 emails and browse 10,000 web pages according to Orange/France Telecom, who own Nordnet. I wouldn’t recommend this package if you were intending to download music and movies.

And finally: A new film channel started on Astra 2. This specialises in French language films with English subtitles. It’s called CinéMoi and it’s free to air for the month of March only and then encrypts to be become a Sky pay channel in April. At the moment, you will find it on a channel 839 on your Sky digibox, but you can also receive it on your Freesat receiver and your free-to-air box.

On the Freesat box, you will have to put it into non-Freesat mode and manually add the CinéMoi channel. The same applies to free to air receivers and regular customers will know that we support all of the FTA boxes that we have supplied over the years by telling you how to add channels here: To add Cinémoi, you need to know the frequency, polarity and symbol rate which are as follows:

Frequency = 11546

Polarity = Horizontal Symbol

Rate = 27500

This is a really good film channel and it’s a shame that it will only be available by paying a supplement on top of a Sky subscription. Film Four used to work this way and didn’t make any money until it left the shackles of Sky and went free to air and then made money from advertising. Make the most of it if I were you and start recording ….

John Siwdell of www.bigdishsat.com, a French-based satellite supply company, provides regular advice in The Essential Edge on receiving British and other TV programmes in France and Switzerland.