Hotel Cable Report: Paris, France (3/15/2012)

[TVWorldwide]

I stayed at Hôtel Collège de France, a budget hotel in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The TV was a 26" (I believe) Toshiba LCD.

1 TF1 HD [France]
2 France 2 HD
3 France 3 [w/ local programming for the Paris region]
4 Canal+ [France; over-the-air pay-TV channel, mostly encrypted]
5 France 5 [educational, documentaries]
6 M6 HD [France]
7 Arte HD [France/Germany; mostly cultural]
8 Direct 8 [France]
9 W9 [France]
10 TMC [France/Monaco]
11 NT1 [France]
12 NRJ [France]
13 LCP [parliamentary channel, similar to C-SPAN]
14 France 4
15 BFM TV [France; news channel]
16 I>Tele [France; news channel]
17 DirectStar [France]
18 Gulli [France; kids]
19 France Ô [programming for and from France's overseas territories]
21 Canal 21 [local channel for the Paris region]
22 IDF1 [local channel for the Paris region]
23 NRJ Paris [local channel for the Paris region]
24 BFM Business Paris [local business news channel for the Paris region]
29 Terre d'Infos [France; temporary channel]
51 TF1 [SD version]
52 France 2 [SD version]
56 M6 [SD version]
57 Arte [SD version]
800 France 24 [France; news channel, English version]
802 Bloomberg Europe
803 CCTV Français [China; in French]
804 CCTV News [China; in English]
805 CNBC Europe
806 CNN International
807 Rede Record [Brazil]
808 RAI 1 [Italy]
809 RAI 2 [Italy]
810 RAI 3 [Italy]
811 RAI News [Italy; news channel]
813 ETB Sat [Spain; regional channel for the Basque Country]
814 Andalucia TV [Spain; regional channel for Andalucia]
815 Cubavision Internacional [Cuba]
817 Canal 24 Horas [Spain; news channel]
818 TVE Internacional [Spain]
819 Telemadrid Sat [Spain; local channel for Madrid]
820 TV Galicia [Spain; regional channel for Galicia]
821 RTL Television [Germany]
822 RTL 2 [Germany]
823 Super RTL [Germany; kids]
824 n-tv [Germany; news and documentaries]
825 Vox [Germany]
826 NHK World TV [Japan; in English]
827 France 24 [France; news channel, French version]
828 Montagne TV [France; mountain-related programming]
829 TV5MONDE Europe [French-language programming from France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada]
830 Russia Today [Russia; news channel, in English]

I was somewhat surprised that Eurosport was not available.

 

[KML0224]

It sounds like you had one hell of a cable lineup there! Except for CNN International, I don't see anything on that lineup from the US or Canada.

 

[TVWorldwide]

I missed one:

801 BBC World News

It sounds like you had one hell of a cable lineup there! Except for CNN International, I don't see anything on that lineup from the US or Canada.

CNBC Europe and Bloomberg Europe do carry programming from their American "mother channels" at certain hours of the day, in addition to their European-produced programming. (Besides various CNBC business and talk shows, CNBC Europe also airs the NBC Nightly News and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.)

Channels such as History, Discovery, TLC, Cartoon Network, TNT, Comedy Central, etc., are rarely available in European hotel rooms because they are, for the most part, only available through premium pay-TV platforms, which tend to be expensive. When available at all, they are usually found in more upscale hotels.

In any case, all of these are still European versions of their respective American counterparts. European cable systems cannot just distribute the original American feed of, say, CBS or HBO. That's primarily because of rights issues -- the European rights to the American networks' programming often belong to someone else.

For instance, the European versions of the Discovery Channel -- there are several regional ones -- air many shows that also air on their U.S. counterpart, but usually at completely different times. Other shows may be unique to Europe, and some U.S. shows may never make it to the the European Discovery Channels and may end up being sold to other European networks.

Shows that are aired on CBS in the U.S. can be found on all kinds of European channels, cable and broadcast.

 

[azumanga]

When we stayed at the Hotel St. Louis Bastille (along the covered part of Canal St. Martin) in July 2011, the cable lineup consisted of the same single and double digit lineup above, but not much extra beyond that -- though on a few analog channels, they had Eurosport, MTV Hits from the UK (the only English language channel available) and Deutsche Welle.

 

[Gregg]

Interesting line-up. Not what I expected. (Who thought there were three French news channels?) As you said, it was a budget hotel, yet they certainly gave you a large amount of channels.

As stated above, there is a distinct lack of U.S. channels except for CNN International, CNBC and Bloomberg. Yet there are five government-owned news channels in English from other countries that I counted: Russia Today, CCTV 9 (the Chinese news channel in English is "9"), NHK World, BBC World News and France 24 English (refered to on the air as Vangt-Quatre, not Twenty-Four).

I believe RTL is not Germany but Luxemborg. In fact, I would have thought the RTL channels would have been among the first ten or 15, broadcasting in French. I always thought that one of Luxemborg's principal industries was providing mass-appeal radio and TV programming to France, bypassing the French government, since the Luxemborg border is not that far from Paris. I heard that in the 60s and 70s, RTL Radio was popular in France because they played all the international hits in English that radio stations in France could only play in limited amounts due to government restrictions on non-French programming.

Who knew Cuba had an international TV channel that gets picked up in France? I thought Cuba was so poor it could barely provide a few channels for its own people.

And I've never heard of Rede Record from Brazil. I thought the principal international Brazilian TV channel was from their state network, TV Globo. That's the station that is widely available in the U.S. on cable systems that have premium interntational channels. Even though I don't speak Portuguese, my cable system had that channel unscrambled for a two week promotion and I was impressed by TV Globo's quality programming and slick production values.

Thanks for sharing all that info. If I were visiting Paris, I'm sure I'd be torn between exploring the beautiful city and checking out all those local and international channels on TV!



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[Darth_vader]

DVB or SECAM?

Interesting listing. The 800s block almost looks like Galaxy 19 (without as much middle-eastern and religious programming.) Sounds like it's probably fed by Hot Bird. Odd they didn't include Al-Jazeera in there, though.

 

[azumanga]

I believe RTL is not Germany but Luxemborg. In fact, I would have thought the RTL channels would have been among the first ten or 15, broadcasting in French. I always thought that one of Luxemborg's principal industries was providing mass-appeal radio and TV programming to France, bypassing the French government, since the Luxemborg border is not that far from Paris. I heard that in the 60s and 70s, RTL Radio was popular in France because they played all the international hits in English that radio stations in France could only play in limited amounts due to government restrictions on non-French programming.

In France, RTL-named media properties include RTL9 (35% owned by RTL and 65% by AB Groupe) and RTL radio (wholly-owned by RTL). RTL owns many other broadcast properties in France of various shares, including M6 and its line of specialty channels (M6 itself co-owned by RTL and the Suez group; the specialty channels wholly-owned by RTL).

RTL itself is 91% owned by the Bertlesmann media conglomerate of Germany, with the remainder owned by the Luxembourg government. RTL's most-notable property is FremantleMedia, the people who brought viewers shows such as "family Feud" and "American Idol".

More here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTL_Group

DVB or SECAM?

Actually both -- DVB for the digital transmission, and SECAM for the color. Though when I saw French TV in action when I was in Paris, it's impossible to discern any differences between DVB / SECAM and ATSC / NTSC, just by looking at the screen.

On a side note, the museums in Paris (such as the Louvre) sell their all-region DVDs in NTSC-format only, apparently as most of its foreign visitors come from NTSC countries such as the US, Canada or Japan. Though when these DVDs are shown on a SECAM television in the gift shop, it shows a flickering effect, adjusting the DVD's frame rate for those watching on a PAL or SECAM set.

 

[DToTheJ]

Weird seeing a hotel cable lineup without a single ESPN network on it...

 

[mnradiofan]

Weird seeing a hotel cable lineup without a single ESPN network on it...

Give it 10 years and that will change, heh. I'm surprised they haven't already started ESPN France.

 

[TVWorldwide]

Interesting line-up. Not what I expected. (Who thought there were three French news channels?) As you said, it was a budget hotel, yet they certainly gave you a large amount of channels.

There's another one: LCI (owned by TF1), but it's a premium channel.

As stated above, there is a distinct lack of U.S. channels except for CNN International, CNBC and Bloomberg. Yet there are five government-owned news channels in English from other countries that I counted: Russia Today, CCTV 9 (the Chinese news channel in English is "9"), NHK World, BBC World News and France 24 English (refered to on the air as Vangt-Quatre, not Twenty-Four).

One reason for the large number of government-owned channels is probably that they are usually available to hotels and cable systems free-of-charge, unlike most commercial operations, which require payment for distribution.

BTW, CCTV has pretty much dropped the "CCTV 9" moniker in favor of "CCTV News."

I believe RTL is not Germany but Luxemborg. In fact, I would have thought the RTL channels would have been among the first ten or 15, broadcasting in French. I always thought that one of Luxemborg's principal industries was providing mass-appeal radio and TV programming to France, bypassing the French government, since the Luxemborg border is not that far from Paris. I heard that in the 60s and 70s, RTL Radio was popular in France because they played all the international hits in English that radio stations in France could only play in limited amounts due to government restrictions on non-French programming.

RTL Group, which owns lots of TV stations across Europe, is mostly German-owned, as azumanga pointed out, but it's still based in Luxembourg. The German RTL channel (originally RTL Plus, now RTL Television, later joined by RTL2, Super RTL, and the like) was originally headquartered in Luxembourg as well, but it moved to Cologne many years ago, so it's considered German nowadays. In fact, RTL used to be Germany's most-watched network. (I'm not sure if that's still the case.)

The French-langauge RTL radio service was indeed hugely popular in France during the monopoly era of French broadcasting. Along with a few other "peripheral stations" (or "border blasters," to use the American term), it provided a fresh, commercial alternative to the somewhat staid, politically controled, and culturally elitist French state radio. The broadcasting monopoly ended in the early 1980s, and France now has hundreds upon hundreds of commercial radio stations, but RTL remains a major player. (It's main studios have actually been located in Paris since the monopoly era.)

And I've never heard of Rede Record from Brazil. I thought the principal international Brazilian TV channel was from their state network, TV Globo. That's the station that is widely available in the U.S. on cable systems that have premium interntational channels. Even though I don't speak Portuguese, my cable system had that channel unscrambled for a two week promotion and I was impressed by TV Globo's quality programming and slick production values.

Rede Globo is the largest Brazilian network (it's privately owned by a Brazlian conglomerate, BTW), but Rede Record is actually older; according to Wikipedia, it was founded in 1953, 12 years before Globo.

Thanks for sharing all that info.

My pleasure!

 

[TVWorldwide]

Weird seeing a hotel cable lineup without a single ESPN network on it...

Give it 10 years and that will change, heh. I'm surprised they haven't already started ESPN France.

ESPN America, a version of ESPN for European fans of American sports, is carried by many French cable and satellite providers, but as a premium channel. CanalSat, the major French satellite provider, offers it as part of its 8-euros-a-month add-on Sports Pack (along with ESPN Classic):

http://www.ariase.com/fr/television/canalsat/pack-sport.html

 

[TVWorldwide]

BTW, since we were discussing French news channels, here's a clip of one of them (BFM TV) from last year, with Hurricane Irene striking the U.S. Northeast as the lead story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwvnbzY4qwE

 

[TVWorldwide]

Here's another (somewhat) related clip that may be of interest to some; live coverage of last year's analog shutdown in the Paris region:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_cf-IFa0WI

And a report about the shutdown with historical footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHvAVQM_pug

 

[compubit]

Yup - that looks like a combination of the OTA muxes in Paris with a few of the transponders from one of the satellites.

I believe that DVB-S can be block converted for viewing as DVB-C - not sure if it works for DVB-T.

A hotel I stayed at in Berlin had 200+ channels, but only those available as FTA would decode in the TV (and my DVB-C UB tuner card) - so no CNN International or ESPN America, but nearly all of the German regional 3rd channels (minus some of the part-time opt outs), plus most of the national channels available on the continent.

J

 

[TVWorldwide]

I recently stayed in a hotel in Italy that offered the Sky Italia hotel package. The choice is pretty extensive, with European versions of most major U.S. cable networks, 14 sports channels, 20 channels in Arabic, etc. However, only about two thirds of the channels were available free of charge at my mid-priced hotel; viewing the rest would have required a call to the lobby and an additional charge.

Some scans of the channel lineup from my Sky Italia hotel brochure:

http://s11.postimage.org/jo4zt6jxv/skyit1.jpg

http://s11.postimage.org/69rwx5d9v/skyit2.jpg

http://s11.postimage.org/tdsdpqgkz/skyit3.jpg

http://s11.postimage.org/3omc9mnw3/skyit4.jpg