2018 French Open: two-week Grand Slam tennis tournament to be broadcast in Ultra High Definition

Paris, 25 May 2018 - To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the coverage of the French Open by France Télévisions, the French public broadcaster has decided to offer its viewers a spectacular gift by providing them with free access to a 100% UHD event channel broadcast 24 hours a day on DTT and satellite TV.

France Télévisions and the French Tennis Federation, in collaboration with TDF and FRANSAT, a subsidiary of Eutelsat, will provide 4K coverage of the Philippe-Chatrier court, Roland-Garros’ primary venue during the two-week tournament. All matches will be captured by France Télévisions' production channel. Once again, the event channel whose broadcasting scope was extended in 2018 demonstrates the public broadcaster’s strategy of technological innovation and its distribution policy that is optimised to reach and serve all audiences.

Broadcast live from 27 May to 10 June, the matches will be aired:

• everywhere in France on channel 444 of the FRANSAT free-to-air satellite platform;
• in Paris and the Île-de-France* region, as well as in Nantes and Toulouse on channels 81 or 82

to all homes equipped with a 4K/UHD** compatible TV set.

For the 2018 edition, Ateme has been selected to provide digital compression for the entire offer and Zayo for its expertise in fibre signal transport.

UHD or 4K offer viewers true immersion and an unprecedented viewing experience with an image quality four times richer than the current Full HD and two times more images per second.

This new operation confirms that the transition to UHD is now well underway at industrial level. The switch to UHD (4K) is a key component of the CSA's planned modernisation of DTT.

* From the Eiffel Tower and the Chennevières, Meaux and Chaville sites
** For DTT homes, the “4K” or “UHD” TV set should also receive programmes broadcast in DVB-T2 and HEVC.

FRANSAT viewers must also be equipped with an UHD compatible TV set with an integrated certified satellite tuner and a CAM CI+ module (list available on https://www.fransat.fr/catalogue/15-modules-ci?TV=1)