TPS: MPEG-4 pay DTT by May

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French digital TV platform TPS has informed the regulator, CSA, that it is in a position to start pay TV on DTT in May this year, in the MPEG-4 format.
The announcement refers to the premium channel TPS Star, which would make it the first channel in the world to be broadcast on DTT in MPEG-4. TPS has said that it is calling on French manufacturers like Thomson, Sagem and ST Microelectronics, and to make the STBs and added they will be compatible with MPEG-2 as used by the free to air channels, as required by the law.

TPS says the MPEG-4 broadcasts will be only in standard definition this year and it will begin technical tests very shortly. The move is seen as a way to steal a march on Canal Plus's base of terrestrial subscription TV. Last December, Canal Plus told the Prime Minister's office there are two conditions for the success of DTT: a guarantee that the standard will be long lasting, and a significant delay in the launch of pay channels after the free channels. It said time is needed to develop reliable, secure, low cost decoders. Canal Plus says the best solution, and the one that will be best understood by consumers, is to launch DTT in three phases: free in spring 2005, pay TV in autumn 2006 in MPEG-4, and finally HDTV in 2007.

Interviewed by Reuters, Canal Plus executive Olivier Courson said that TPS request implied that the CSA is discriminating between operators, and that it is one more manoeuvre to try to destabilise the launch of FTA DTT.