ADSL-TV starts to take off in France

The emergence of TV over ADSL in France has given a new strength to the country’s telecom companies. Robert Briel reports

ADSL-TV is taking off in a big way in France, with three telecom operators now rushing to the market with a wide choice of offers designed to lure new subscribers. Given that the launch of DTT is still 10 months away, the race is on to both roll out ADSL-TV across the country and sign up new customers as quickly as possible. ADSL-TV services not only compete with future DTT offers but also traditional cable and satellite. And, like cable, ADSL is also able to offer full triple play – video, broadband and telephony – over a single connection.

The first company to enter the new ADSL-TV market was the alternative telecom operator Free. Unlike its competitors France Télécom and neuf Télécom, it does not work with platform operators, having decided instead to package and market the TV services itself. It is also the only operator to offer bouquets from the AB Groupe, and its basic offer, though not exactly ‘free’ as €29.99 a month, is by far the cheapest. France Télécom and neuf Télécom meanwhile charge an access fee for their ADSL connection and a subscription fee for the CanalsatDSL or TPS-L bouquets.

The basic fee from Free covers the monthly ADSL access charge, modem and set-top box rental and a basic offer of around 40 channels. It also offers unlimited fixed line telephone calls across France, hence the name ‘Free’. In addition, viewers can opt for several la carte channels including BBC World, EuroNews, various MTV services and AB bouquets. Free is by far the most widespread ADSL-TV operator in terms of distribution, its services now reaching the cities of Paris and environs, Aix-en-Province, Besancon, Bordeaux, Caen, Dijon, Grenoble, Lille, Lyons, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nancy, Nantes, Nice, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg and Toulouse. CanalsatDSL, on the other hand, is for the moment only available in the cities of Marseilles, Paris and environs in co-operation with neuf Télécom. In Paris CanalsatDSL also works with France Télécom, thereby allowing viewers to chose which ADSL provider they like best.

France Télécom and TPS offer ADSL-TV to almost 4 million

France Télécom is now quickly rolling out the MaLigne TV service with an 80-channel offer from TPS-L. After its launch in Lyons, followed by Paris and environs, it became available in the cities of Marseille, Cannes, Nice and Nantes in early June, and as of last week coverage was extended to the department of Yvelines, giving a potential reach of 4 million households. The basic MaLigne TV ADSL-TV offer costs €16 a month and gives access – for an additional fee – to the TPSL service as well as VOD services with movies and TV programmes. A monthly subscription to the TPS-L Prestige service cost an additional €21 and gives access to the TPS Star premium movie channel, French Soccer league channel and six additional TPS movie channels. The offer also includes the main French channels, with TF1 and M6, both shareholders in TPS, on an exclusive basis.

The VOD service meanwhile provides viewers not only with movies but also a range of TV programmes from a variety of sources including TPS, TF1, Arte, France Télévisions, Movie System and – in conjunction with the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) – Lobster Films, Roissy Films, l’Agence du court métrage (short movies agency), Art-Netart, la Copat and Doc’Net. It has also signed contracts with the major studios Warner Bros, MGM, Paramount, Touchstone (The Walt Disney Company France) and Universal, and offers the main TF1 evening news bulletin and a large number kids programmes on demand.

High-speed roll out

The speed with which ADSL-TV services are being rolled out in France is remarkable. Free was the first operator to offer full triple-play, thereby forcing France Télécom to be equally aggressive in providing a TV service via traditional copper wire. This has allowed the incumbent telecoms operator to also compete more effectively with triple-play offers from French cable operators. Indeed, France Télécom is now in the process of divesting itself of its cable networks in order to fully concentrate on triple play via its existing national network. With these developments, France has taken a giant leap forward towards the commercialisation of ADSL-TV. This is contrast to the situation in Germany, where Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online believes it is economically not feasible to launch such a service nationally, and in The Netherlands, where KPN Telecom is equally cautious. The big advantage for France is that it has a mature market for subscription based TV services. Canal+, for instance, has been around for a long time and is accepted as a value-for-money pay TV offer. With three competing digital satellite platforms – Canal Satélite Numérique, TPS and AB Sat – also present in the marketplace, people have become used to paying for TV bouquets and renting set-top boxes. This makes it all the easier to sell set-top boxes for ADSL services, and with the cost of DSLAMs falling and a strong French manufacturer (Alcatel) in the marketplace, all the conditions are in place to make ADSL-TV a success. Telecom operators across Europe will no doubt be watching developments in the French marketplace with keen interest.

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