From: juergenb@ecs.comm.mot.com (Juergen Bartels)
Subject: Re: French digital radio decoder info needed
Organization: eng
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 08:28:34 GMT

In article <1992Apr6.142658.3323@cetia.fr> philip@cetia.fr (Philip Peake) writes:

>>A year ago, I got their adr and wrote them a letter. Unfortunately,
>>I never got an answer. Maybe it was because I wrote it in English?
>
>Almost certainly.
>This doesn't mean that they can't read and write English ...

Well, I have to try again when I speak French, I guess. <grin>


>There are 6 terestrial stations (well, maybe 5 now that La 5 seems to
>have died), all but one (FR3) are on the sattelite. FR3 isn't there,
>because it is SUPPOSED to be a regional channel, which in rality
>means about half an hour per day of local news. The rest of the time it
>is networked.
>Now, you may ask why terrestrial channels broadcasting films
>and other copyrighted material is transmitted unencoded ?
>
>Well, there are two answers given : the band is NOT the ECS or DBS
>band, so you are not supposed to watch it, and secondly, it is only an
>experimental service (this experiment has now been running
>for several years ....)

I thought they use the satellite only for relaying programs
to their terrestial transmitters, at least the 'newer' 
stations (LA 5, M6 etc)?

                        
LA 5 was to close down this weekend, I'm surprised that they
are still there.


>Most of the radio stations ARE terrestrial in origin, but some are
>intended for specific audiences, such as supermarkets etc.
>
>Canal J is supposedly only available via cable ... When the new
>sattelite is working (8degrees W, the same one that was used at


What about people in rural areas where there is no cable, are they
welcomed to receive with a dish?

Radio stations really use the satellite as a relay to transmitters,
right? In every city I saw a small dish next to a FM antenna.
I'm a bit afraid with the new ALCATEL digital system many of the
remaining analog stations might move to digital. That would leave
just blank carriers!

>The French government would really like cable to work, and don't seem too
>enthusiastic about satellite TV. There is a new law, which requires
>satellite SYSYEMS to have a green sticker (same as telephones), so you will
>find it difficult to buy seperate elements (dish, tuner etc) I suspect
>that the next step will be to only certify systems using D2MAC ... they
>have to force it to sell somehow ... and also stop French citizens
>from being poluted by watching all that foreigen TV, especially when
>it says unpleasant things about the French govt.

Will French people accept this kind of treatment? I suspect nobody
would like his officials to tell him what to do and what not to do?
The idea of free exchange of information may be restricted a bit.
Although I understand that each country should protect its culture
a bit.

Thanks Philip for explaining. I'm on FIDO also, but only here a few
French people respond, that helps a lot. 


Jurgen

Jurgen Bartels   Taunusstein near Wiesbaden  Germany


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