As has been pointed out, this has been dealt with a length in the past. But it is worth mentioning that, as a result of the increased availability of cable in the UK, there are large quantities of used Sky boxes for sale there at bargain prices. Sky HD boxes have built-in recorders that cannot be used unless you pay a subscription, but will let you watch all the UK free to view channels. If you live in Northern France, a secondhand Sky Minidish will work well (many people will let you have one for free if you will take it off the wall because they are believed to attract the attention of detector vans!) but otherwise you can use any appropriately sized dish for your location. Any standard LNB will work. My DIY installation cost me around 50ā¬. I bought the kit while in the UK for a family visit. The cable was bought in France.
Going off on another topic, I get my broadband from Sosh. Sosh is owned by Orange but seemed to be quite a lot cheaper. Iāve had it about 18 months and found it faultless. It is not fibre but the speed seems perfectly adequate. I use Netflix in France and have no problem streaming films. Everything was done on time and the service seems very stable and better than what I get in the UK.
Initial cost was 14.99 per month. There is no usage limit on this. It can all be set up online relatively easily and the router is mailed to you.
Someone on here can probably give you a lot more info, but hopefully this is of use.
As my place is currently just a holiday home for us, a great feature for me of having the broadband is that I can monitor the property night and day via cctv. Not a great expense anyway, but worth every penny, if only to see what the weather is doing!
Ron
Fab, you been most helpful
lots of advice above,
I have installed 100ās of systems and can tell you that the installed satellite equipment should be in the region of 200ā¬ the freesat box from Uk Ā£49. It depends on the location for the size of dish but unless you are in the extreme south of France then 60-80cm dish should be fine.
Thanks for this advice, I thought ā¬560 seemed a bit high, will def buy box from Uk I know I need 80cm dish. Now to find some local to fit for reasonable price.
Why ?
FTA (free to air) boxes are just as cheap if not cheaper here in France, as I mentioned earlier mine cost ā¬30 HDMI, recording facility etcā¦ perfect (and comes with a french plug!!) 
Oh right sorry didnāt realise that, is that freesat? thanks for info Iām coming over in next 4 weeks to complete, do you buy them in large supermarkets or a specialist shop?
FTA boxes/channels are the same as when the Freesat receivers are set to ānon-freesatā mode which gives you over 400 tv and radio channels.
Yes readily available in supermarkets, online and in electrical stores.
FTA boxes are NOT the same as FREESAT! If you plan to use the TV guide to plan your recordings in advance of one day, you will be UNABLE to do so. The TV guide is a freesat item that is not available on NON freesat boxes and that particularly includes FTA boxes. They will also not re-time your recordings should there be a programme over-run. Of course you could always subscribe to a weekly Radio Times.
Of course not the same as freesat but using the same satellites Astra so getting the same channels. Including all regional variations of the BBC and ITV and no need for a card or to enter a postcode.
Here are all the channels I get for free on my FTA box.
Oh, of course the RT online, I had forgotten how useful and user friendly their eight day forward guide is, not. And the extreme effort that is required to enter ones postcode, oh the pain. And what card? There is already more than enough shite on the 200 or so channels that freesat offer without any need to double the number in the hope that one can find something worthy to watch
Agreed, I have about 25 channels saved on favourites more than enough, especially as I enjoy a lot of the normal French TV too.
Contact me , I can give you I a number of a person that might be of help to you.
Hi Richard, if I can have number or email that would be great, property weāre buying is in MauprĆ©voir
I would suggest that folk send email address and/or phone details by private Message rather than put such information here on a public forum. 
@Richard_Nokes as an āold handā it might be easier if you send a private Message to @Tracy1 she can reply with her infoā¦
hi, have sat dish. Wish to start freesat. Can i buy a box in france. Will it work in 71130. help. john
You might just be able to get away with a 60cm dish - where is your dish aimed at present, it needs to be pointing at the Astra 2 cluster at 28.2Ā°E
There has been much discussion on the forum about satellite installations, some quite recent if you look.
No. Probably.
Is that telegraphic enough ?
If you just want a Freesat-only enabled box, then you wonāt find any in France (to my knowledge). If you are prepared to accept all of the other free-to-air satellite channels available at 28.2E (several hundred in various languages), then you can pretty much buy any satellite demodulator (satellite TV box). e.g. STRONG SRT range, but you wonāt get the āniceā electronic programming guide that is installed by default on Freesat boxes that you can buy in the UK.
Point the satellite dish at 28.2E of due south (called the āazimuthā).
Angle the satellite dish at 31Ā° (angle corresponding to your postcode)
Depending on the size of your dish, and where you are in relation to the broadcast footprint, you might have to set the skew of the LNB.
Read this.
Use this website to find the precise azimuth and elevation.