A telecommunications pylon was deliberately set on fire in Cenves, in the Rhône. 800,000 people are deprived of television. Teams are mobilized for restoration in the evening.
800,000 people were deprived of television on Tuesday, December 31 around Cenves, in the Rhône. Very bad news for those whose tradition is to watch the end of year countdown on TV, mainly single people. It is a fire, a priori criminal, of a telecommunications pylon which is at the origin of this cut, reported the TDF group (formerly Télédiffusion de France).
Teams were deployed to repair the damage around the pylon, which caught fire around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning in Cenves. The population around Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire) and Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain) is affected.
Television should be restored for the end of year countdown
Teams are hard at work cleaning up the site and installing replacement equipment. A TDF spokesperson told AFP that nothing was guaranteed regarding the restoration of television before the end of the evening: “We hope that television will be restored by this evening. There is people who only have television during this holiday season. It’s their only way to connect to what’s happening outside.
The 3G, 4G and 5G network was also degraded among all operators within a smaller radius. Work will continue during the week so that all telecommunications are restored. The gendarmes noted that the fence around the pylon had been cut and that the fire had been started using fuel, according to the Villefranche-sur-Saône prosecutor, Laëtitia Francart, to AFP.