CanalDigitaal is a provider of digital television via satellite for the Dutch market, using the Astra satellites at 19.2° east and the Astra 3A satellite at 23.5° east .
Initially customers were mainly Dutch citizens who did not have cable access. But in the meantime the company also managed to expand into the cities. This is sometimes complicated in the Netherlands due to local building codes restricting the placement of satellite dishes. It is only possible to register as a customer of CanalDigitaal using a Dutch postal address, due to copyright restrictions.
CanalDigitaal and it's Belgian cousin TV Vlaanderen Digitaal are owned by Airbridge Investments and Providence Equity Partners. The latter has a controlling majority investment.
[edit] Smartcard
Unlike eg. many German broadcasters, the Dutch public and commercial broadcasts are not freely available via satellite. To receive the Dutch broadcasts a smartcard is required to decrypt the Mediaguard signal. CanalDigitaal has recently begun switching from Mediaguard 2 to Mediaguard 3. The public broadcasts are free-to-view, the commercial broadcasts are not.
A standard DVB-S receiver is used, which can also receive other free-to-air broadcasts.
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