[Satellite TODAY 10-28-09] France Télévisions signed a long-term contract with Eutelsat for capacity to broadcast all France 3 regional channels on the Atlantic Bird 3 satellite, Eutelsat announced Oct. 28.
As a result of the deal, all homes in France will be equipped with a dish to receive transmissions from Atlantic Bird 3, located at 5 degrees West, and a subscription-free Fransat decoder to access digital reception of all 24 of France 3’s regional channels.
   France Télévisions said the move was targeted to benefit viewers beyond range of terrestrial reception after France’s analog switch-of, as well as homes already equipped for direct-to-home analog TV reception from Atlantic Bird 3 who need to change their decoder to switch to digital.
   Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

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