[Satellite Today – 09-13-07] Canalsat, the French direct-to-home operator with more than five million subscribers, said Sept. 12, that it had signed a new deal with Philips for advanced High-Definition (HD) TV set-top boxes. Under the terms of the deal, Canalsat will deploy the latest Philips dual HD digital satellite receivers to enable its subscribers to enjoy access to the latest HD content, as well as new interactive features, starting next month. As well as the latest in sports and movies HD content, subscribers will have access to new interactive services for accessing on-demand content. In addition, the Philips set top boxes incorporate features such as the ability to record current and future programming thanks to an external hard drive.

Maxime Saada, the managing director of Canalsat recently told Via Satellite that he was optimistic about potential take-up of HD in France. He said, “I don’t think at this stage that we are completely embracing HD services in France. The numbers of households accessing HD services is still relatively small. However, we expect this number to increase quickly. The reasons we think this will happen is because the price of HDTV equipment is going down steadily, which will make it a very popular product to buy at Christmas.”