Digital terrestrial television broadcasts around thirty channels that are available free of charge across mainland France. Alongside this free offering, pay-TV channels long occupied terrestrial frequencies, requiring a separate subscription. The landscape has changed: since June 2025, the Canal+ group has withdrawn its channels from terrestrial broadcasting, redefining what a pay-TV channel on DTT even means.
Canal+ withdraws from DTT: what changed in 2025
Canal+, Canal+ Cinéma, Canal+ Sport and Planète+ formed the historic core of pay-TV channels broadcast over the air. Their withdrawal in June 2025 eliminated almost all pay-TV services accessible with a simple rooftop aerial.
This withdrawal does not mean these channels have disappeared. Canal+ programmes are still available through other distribution methods: internet service provider boxes, the company’s own app and satellite. The difference lies in how they are received. A DTT aerial is no longer enough to access Canal+, regardless of the subscription you have.
Most lists of DTT channels published online still include Canal+ and its spin-offs among DTT pay-TV channels, without noting that terrestrial broadcasting has ended. This confusion between the historic label and today’s technical reality is worth pointing out.
Pay-TV channels on DTT: an increasingly blurred category
Before 2025, the distinction was simple. Some channels had a channel number on DTT, but their signal was encrypted. Subscribers received a decoder or access card and picked up the channel over the air, just like any other.
With Canal+’s departure, the category “DTT pay-TV channel” no longer corresponds to an identifiable terrestrial service. Available sources do not make it possible to establish a comprehensive list of other pay-TV channels still broadcast over the air. Caution is warranted: claiming that pay-TV channels remain on DTT in the strict sense would require checking each channel and multiplex individually.
This ambiguity has practical consequences. A household equipped only with a rooftop aerial and a DTT-compatible television can now access free-to-air channels, but no pay-TV options through this reception method. Pay-TV services have moved to other distribution networks.
Technical impact on the DTT platform and multiplexes
The withdrawal of Canal+ channels freed up capacity on DTT multiplexes. These multiplexes are the technical infrastructure that groups several channels on the same frequency. When a broadcaster leaves the platform, the bandwidth it used can be reassigned or removed.
This technical aspect is almost never covered in articles for general audiences, which tend to focus on listing channel numbers. Broadcasters have voiced concerns about the sale of TDF, the operator that manages DTT transmitters, and the risk of higher broadcasting costs. The economic viability of the terrestrial platform depends on how many broadcasters remain and how infrastructure costs are shared.
What a smaller platform means for viewers
Fewer channels on DTT could mean less variety for households without an internet box. The debate centres on which channels still warrant terrestrial broadcasting as IPTV and streaming continue to grow.
- Households without an internet box (in rural areas, older people and owners of second homes) rely exclusively on a rooftop aerial and can no longer access any pay-TV services this way.
- Households with an internet box receive free DTT channels via IPTV, along with pay-TV packages offered by their provider, independently of terrestrial broadcasting.
- Canal+ subscribers can now access programmes via the app, satellite or their provider’s box, but no longer through an aerial.
Pay-TV packages available through an internet box: don’t confuse them with DTT
A common source of confusion is the terminology used by providers. When an internet service provider includes a package of channels in its box offer, those channels are not transmitted over terrestrial DTT. They use the internet network (IPTV). Calling a cinema or sports package sold by a provider “DTT pay-TV channels” is a misnomer.
The distinction between terrestrial broadcasting and distribution through an internet box is technical, but it makes all the difference to consumers. A subscription to a package through an internet box does not require an aerial. Conversely, owning a DTT aerial has provided access to no pay-TV content since Canal+ withdrew.
Subscription video-on-demand services (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+) follow a different model altogether: they are linked neither to DTT nor to a channel number. The pay-TV market has fragmented across several distribution methods that coexist without overlapping.
The question “Which pay-TV channels are available on DTT?” therefore has a less straightforward answer than it did a few years ago. In the strict sense of terrestrial broadcasting, pay-TV options have almost disappeared. What remains of pay-TV is delivered through other channels: internet boxes, satellite and apps. For households setting up a new service or moving home, the choice of reception method now directly determines access to pay-TV content, far more than simply owning a DTT-compatible television.
