NEW DELHI (TIP): International news channel France 24 has signed new distribution agreements in India and will be now available as a free-to-air channel on Doordarshan’s DTH platform, DD Direct + and Dish TV. It started broadcasting its English version this month. The company said the new deals would make the channel available to 31 additional TV households, increasing its reach to nearly 38 million TV households in the country. It was earlier available to about seven million households who received the channel through cable networks. Marc Saikali, Director of France 24, said the channel’s English version was moving into the heart of Indian society and would offer special programming covering political, economic and cultural news in the country. Eric Cremer, Vice President- Distribution, France 24, added that the channel hopes to increase the reach to about 50 million TV households by next year. Based in Paris, France 24 is a news channel that is broadcast to about 222 million homes around the world in French, Arabic and English.