Many English people who move to France think that they won’t be able to watch UK TV in France or that they will need expensive gadgets and subscriptions.

Actually with a satellite dish and a demodulator obtaining UK TV in France is quite easy and cheap.  By orienting your dish to the Astra 2D satellite at 28.2 degrees to the east you will be able to obtain all free to air English TV channels.  But be sure that there is no tree or building or other obstacle between the dish and the satellite.

Here is a list of the channels: http://fr.kingofsat.net/sat-astra2d.php

However the size of the dish will change in accordance to the region of France where you live.  So if you are living in northern France, a 50 cm dish may be sufficient, in the centre of France you may need a 60 cm or 65 cm dish and in southern France a 70 cm or 80 cm dish may be needed (To be sure of the appropriate size of your dish just ask a salesperson in a TV store by explaining to them that you want to receive UK TV via the Astra 2D satellite oriented at 28.2 degrees to the east).

If you don’t want or can’t have a big dish you can also buy a Flatmagic.  This new small antenna is very elegant, discrete and effective and has been specially developed for digital satellite reception in collective houses and flats with small balconies. This antenna can also be customised in accordance to your wall or background so it becomes quasi invisible.

This amazing antenna is perfect to receive the most famous European satellite services such as: Sky Digital, CanalSat France, canal Digitaal NL, Premiere Germany, Sky Italia, TV Globo and others.

When you have everything you need, the last thing to do is to install it properly. So if you are worried about the installation and don’t know how to proceed let professionals do it for you. Generally many TV stores also offer installation and repair services.

For some years now many TV stores and department stores have been offering decoders to receive UK TV in France. Theses decoders enable you to receive free to air English TV and radio in very good quality whatever the weather and some of them also let you record a channel while watching another, get HD, receive updates automatically and take out a subscription to receive more English channels.

As a demodulator a decoder has to be connected to a dish or a Flatmagic oriented to the Astra 2D satellite.

SKY Box:

One of the best decoders to receive English TV in France is the SKY digibox.

Today there are 3 models of SKY digital box: the standard one, the SKY + HD digital box and the SKY 1TB SKY HD receiver which requires a subscription.

With the first one you can receive all free to air English TV and radio without any subscription or take a subscription to receive more English channels.

The second one is sold with a subscription and enables you to get HD and record a channel while watching another.

The last one is 3D ready and enables you to record around 240 hours of HD content or around 100 HD movies.

For more information: http://www.dna-tv.com/fr-sky-boxes.asp

DD Electronic:

With a DD Electronics decoder you will be able to receive all free to air English TV channels without paying any subscription. Thanks the DD Electronic decoder your channels will be automatically updated and you won’t need to re- program frequencies manually anymore. You will also have an EPG- Electronic Program Guide for up to seven days.

DD Electronic also offers 3 kinds of boxes:

-          The Standard one

-          The HD one with single turner: to record a channel while watching another

-          The HD one with twin turner and 320GB: to record 2 channels while watching another

For more information: http://www.ddelec.com/FR/chaines_anglaises_gratuites-satellite.htm