International News Presentation: Past and Present

The launch of the new look:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x41ppt1_bfmtv-changement-d-habillage-pour-la-tnthd_tv

No, it's definitely Tuesday 5th. There are regular switchover adverts or tickers which flash up during programmes on all of the affected channels.

The video that WW posted confirms the switchover is on Tuesday (en Francais).

Here's how i>TELE has advertised the switchover to HD this morning.

What is the red ribbon and 110 representing?

I think it's something to do with raising money to help awareness and research into AIDS and HIV.

More about Sidaction at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidaction

Presentation wise, all of the major French broadcasters add the Sidaction DOG with the donation number for three days annually, while presenters and guests all wear the Sidaction ribbon. France 2 had a prime-time show on Saturday evening which was a mix of a pre-recorded entertainment and live from a phone-room.

Going back to BFMTV's relaunch, it's no coincidence that this rebrand is designed to maintain their market share after switchover. They're currently the market leader with i>TELE from Canal+ second. LCI, the TF1 owned news channel finally leaves the paywall on Tuesday. BFM were so concerned that I believe they appealed to stop LCI getting a FTA licence on TNT.

The official launch of LCI as a free DTT channel:

LCI while now in the clear is one of the few SD only DTT channels in France. One small step.....

Half right. France isn't switching to DVB-T2.

They are however migrating FTA MPEG2 SD services on TNT (their version of Freeview) to H264 (which has been used for HD and Pay-TV on TNT for ages). In many cases (if not all?) they are switching from SD to HD at the same time and if they were simulcasting SD and HD, they will stop doing so. All viewers need an HD-compatible box or TV to continue viewing.

NRK did the same thing in Norway quite a few years ago now. (The Norwegian DVB-T platform has mandated support for HD H264 from launch, so NRK don't have to simulcast the 576i and 720p versions of their channels - though they did initially because people had IDTVs bought before launch (and in border areas to watch SVT) that were MPEG2 only I suspect.

What's not gone down well is the changes on satellite. Whilst HD-compatible DVB-T boxes are very cheap to buy if you need to upgrade, HD-compatible satellite boxes with the right CAMs for Fransat or TNTSat are more expensive, and many broadcasters are also switching off their SD satellite services, not just terrestrial. Why is this an issue? Well France decided not to replicate their analogue terrestrial coverage with digital terrestrial (unlike the UK which has for PSB Lite pretty much). Instead they decided that satellite was the way to provide services in ares with poor terrestrial coverage from the main transmitters.. So rural viewers are being slightly penalised...

(There is one DVB-T2 mux in Paris at the moment I believe - which is broadcasting UHD 2160p test content in H265/HEVC)

Jay Antzakas, the co-founder of Television by Design (TVbD), one of the most influential U.S. television (particularly news) design companies, has died:

http://www.ftvlive.com/todays-news/2016/4/6/industry-graphic-designer-dies

The company was particularly prominent in the 1980s and '90s. Here's their 1996 demo reel:

A longer, cleaner clip of LCI's free DTT launch (note Nicolas' and Helene's coffee mugs!):



We discussed Toronto's CityTV a few pages back; this is what their news looks like these days:

Good to see Ken Barlow and Pat Evans presenting the news.

http://weatherfieldgazette.co.uk/norris/kenbarlowpatevans.png