Digital reaches seven in ten French households

More than seven in ten French households took a digital TV service at the end of the first half of this year, according to the latest survey by media regulator the CSA.

According to the survey, 70.3% of households have at least one digital service, delivered via digital-terrestrial TV, satellite, ADSL or cable. Some 39% of households have completely migrated to digital for all TVs. Only 17.2% of French households now only receive analogue terrestrial TV. The CSA said that progress over the last six months had been greatest amongst households with people over 75 years old, rural households and those with people who were economically inactive. However these categories remain those most likely to rely on analogue reception.

According to the CSA, 43.1% of households had chosen digital-terrestrial TV.

Separately, the CSA has announced that the analogue services of terrestrial broadcasters in the Ile-de-France region will be switched off on March 8 2011.