You will start with long wave French radio - it's free and the quality of programmes on France Inter and Europe 1 is excellent. But there are some good reasons for acquiring French television - the most obvious being that we are a television culture. You don't want to miss LA Law or Scooby-Doo in French, do you?

The advantage of TV, as far as I am concerned, is the opportunity to start listening to, and understanding, dramas: series, police dramas, films. You will find the inevitable American series dubbed into French, where the French delivery is a little slower than normal to match the rhythm of American. You will also find German series dubbed into French where the French is distinctly slower. You will find almost no drama on French radio, long wave.

In June 2006, I acquired a dish and tuner for Atlantic Bird 3, at a total cost of 350 GB pounds. The satellite carries the public television channels France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5, Arte & LCP (the Parliamentary channel). You don't get TF1, nor Canal+.

The channels on Atlantic Bird 3 are the rather sedate, traditional face of French TV - the equivalent of the various BBC TV offerings. But, fear not, there's plenty of rubbish, game shows, American series, kids programmes etc. If you are intellectual, Arte is the arts/culture channel co-hosted by French and German TV. If you want to watch politics, LCP is really rather good.

A word on subscription channels. According to the people who supplied my kit, you cannot subscribe to French encryped channels: the French will not supply the cards to viewers outside French territory. And recently they upgraded the encryption, so the thousands of Algerians who were happily using pirate cards couldn't watch the World Cup.

However, there are other satellites carrying French channels. Ask around.

Update September 2008

There are, in fact about 100 French TV channels available by satellite, Hotbird carries them and so does Astra 1. They're encrypted, and until recently there were completely illegal ways of decrypting them. That temptation has happily been removed now.

You can buy a subscription card by going to France, or you can buy one at inflated prices on the Web. I have a Bis+ card which gives me the channels of TNT (Télévision Numerique Terrestre = British Freeview) as well as a dozen or so other channels. The most important is TF1, the most popular channel in France. You want to watch French Big Brother, there it is on TF1. The French version is Secret Story.

In all honesty, unless you want to watch a lot of French films (or, films in French, because 90% of films that the French watch are American/English dubbed), you can stick to Atlantic Bird 3.

French TV on the Web

If you have a fast connection you may wish to try TV on the Web.  Look under software for a (very) little technical advice. 

TSR - Télévision Suisse Romande.  The best technically. High-quality picture. Many different programmes available. However, I have to say the French jokes about the Swiss aren't far from the truth. It's a bit flat-footed.

TV5 WebTV    Have a look under langue française. Some interesting pieces.

TF1 - Haut Débit.  Certainly not boring!  This is what television should be - vulgar.
If you are ecologically minded, there's something called Ushuaïa, you may like. Or you can sample Sexy.  It won't help your French but after half an hour of Swiss dairy farming in the Alps on TSR you probably need a change of scenery.

Oh I nearly forgot - Pink TV. Pas de problème....

Canadian TV

Here is Telequebec.

A treat in store for 2006 - CFII La Chaîne Française d'Information Internationale.