T18, the first national French DTT channel in a decade, begins its broadcasts with BCE

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), a provider of multimedia services, systems integration and product development, has collaborated with CMI France at the launch of T18, a new national free-to-air channel aimed at DTT in France.

Media Group Ownership CMI France, T18 is defined as a generalist free-to-air channel that offers a wide range of programming, including interview, documentary, magazine, fiction, film, culture, lifestyle and entertainment formats. The channel was launched on DTT on June 6 and the project was completed in record time with the technological support of BCE, in charge of managing the services of emission and diffusion end-to-end through Luxembourg-based broadcast operations and nationwide distribution through a national operator.

With an infrastructure availability rate of 99,9 %, system redundancy and high-level emission standards, BCE provided T18 with an infrastructure designed to deliver long-term reliability. The implementation also covered a range of advanced services, which include the delivery of playlists, multilingual audio, graphics integration and secure file transfers. Furthermore, the project incorporates secure storage of audiovisual assets in the ISO 27001 certified data center at BCE headquarters and 24/7 monitoring by the company's Network Operations Center (NOC).

Cedric Laveau, technical director and means of production of T18, considers that “BCE's technical expertise and collaborative approach were essential for T18 to go on air as planned.” “Their ability to adapt, support and deliver at each stage of the project made them a true partner, which allowed us to focus on the editorial mission of our new channel,” he remarked.

In parallel, Steven Dehaen, director of broadcast at BCE, explains that, although the launch of a new national channel is “always a complex task”, the project has highlighted the “solidity” of the company's teams. Furthermore, within a very limited timeframe: “Completing the implementation in just five months reflects our agility, professionalism and commitment to delivering the highest broadcasting standards.”