TV query on receiving French TV.

• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  18 September 2012     11:28192068
  #1       report
  Up until recently I have been enjoying the added luxury of receiving a whole brace of French television stations..and very nice they were too. Then about 10 days ago they suddenly all disappeared. They are no more. I am gutted about this as they showed lots of movies in English and even showed the football you couldnt get here outside of Sky TV.
  
  Does anyone know why this happened. I know one or two of you are expert in these matters. It had nothing to do with the digital switchover because after the digital switchover i still got all the channels...now I am reduced to watching the shopping channels !! arrrgh!! as there is often so little on mainstream.
  
  Any ideas out there as to how i could get them back? I have tried retuning almost 10 times but still no good. That doesnt work alas.
  
  I always assumed I got the channels as I am so high up and closest to France.
  
  Bewildered in Dover
  email: dover7@msn.com
• Guest 710

  • Registered: 28 Feb 2011
  • Posts: 6,950
  18 September 2012     11:55192073
  #2       report
  How or why you managed to get it in the first place is probably as much of a mystery to you as it is to me Paul. I did search to see if there had been any reporting of recent changes to the way French TV is transmitted, but no luck thus far.
  As far as seeking to get French TV is concerned, it is a fairly common wish with many, many forums and blogs out there to 'help', but as you say there are those around who actually know what they are talking about. They will no doubt look in soon enough.
  
  There is this...
  
  http://www.ddelec.com/french/french.htm
  Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  18 September 2012     15:21192090
  #3       report
  Thanks for that link Tom will have a look in detail later on.
  
  Yes it is a bit of a mystery as to how I got them in the first place. As I remember they came courtesy of a new TV. I bought an LG, I think it was in the spring, when I retuned the whole thing in they were there. Initially reception was bad on the Tv for all stations including BBC but then it all improved following further tuning and there they were...I struck oil. All the stations on your link there approx down as far as Gulli I was receiving plus the all new Opal TV..a new station from across the way. I even got familiar with Francois Hollande's wife on Direct 8 !!
  
  
  
  But as to why they suddenly disapeared still a mystery.
  email: dover7@msn.com
• Brian Dixon

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 23 Sep 2008
  • Posts: 23,940
  18 September 2012     15:26192092
  #4       report
  dear bewilderd,try buying a new tv or retuning it again.if that fails get a new satalite dish and get the gezzer to point it to the nearist french satalite.
  
  best of luck,rusty o'toole.
• howard mcsweeney1

  • Location: Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 62,352
  18 September 2012     15:32192095
  #5       report
  many years ago when i had cable t.v. i got loads of german and italian and a few french stations.
  
  what i soon realised is that these other countries have much the same line ups as us just in different languages.
  
  i used to turn a german t.v. station if there was a major football match, the commentator simply said the name of the player on the ball and very little else.
  
  merciful release from our own who insist on yacking away about not very much.
• Guest 698

  • Registered: 28 May 2010
  • Posts: 8,664
  19 September 2012     09:45192163
  #6       report
  Paul, on your next visit to Calais I suggest you pop into one of the hypermarkets and buy a TNT Fransat decoder and a portable dish such as you see on caravans and motorhomes. The decoder comes with a free-for-life card and you can then point the dish at whatever satellite you choose. They are about 130 euros for the decoder but you can usually get a package deal.
  I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
• Guest 703

  • Registered: 30 Jul 2010
  • Posts: 2,096
  19 September 2012     10:24192170
  #7       report
  Paul, I had a load of French channels came up in my program list when I retuned after the switchover, but being out here in Lydden the signal wasn't strong enough to actually watch them. I've just retuned my tv after reading this and they've gone, so it must be a signal strength or retuning change over the channel.
• Guest 640

  • Registered: 21 Apr 2007
  • Posts: 7,819
  20 September 2012     07:55192296
  #8       report
  Many thanks for the info there guys. Definitely some options there to consider. Still gutted here as I was getting them all for free...and very nice too. The ARTE channel in particular, missing it. But as Ray says there somebody somewhere has switched something off...its a diabolical infringement of my 'liberte egalite & fraternite' so it is..
  email: dover7@msn.com
• Guest 663

  • Registered: 20 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 1,136
  20 September 2012     17:01192361
  #9       report
  I agree PaulB lost them too, was always good to hear a bit of French now and again, us being frequent visitors to France you could sometimes recognize a word or too.
• Guest 656

  • Registered: 13 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 2,262
  21 September 2012     15:53192472
  #10       report
  I've got a theory MrB, Francois got wind of your over familiarity with his partner Valerie and cut you off in your prime. Mr Hollande knows how to use all that power he has
  
  Anyways, I'm not coming over to yours with the usual bottle of Muscadet or even whipping you up a Croque Monsieur again until you get those channels back
• Guest 698

  • Registered: 28 May 2010
  • Posts: 8,664
  21 September 2012     16:27192481
  #11       report
  Whipping, Colette? Hmmmm.....
  I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
• Terry Nunn

  • Location: London Road, Dover
  • Registered: 12 Mar 2008
  • Posts: 4,316
  21 September 2012     16:33192483
  #12       report
  I don't know, but I suspect that the Frogs have simply got round at last to putting a "tag" on the transmissions so that only Frog receivers will recognise it.
  
  Why? Copyright of course.
  
  By the same token, with UK freeview, if you live in a borderline area you have to choose which region you want. It will then ignore the other. It's the wonder of digital.
  
  
  Terry
  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?