Freely: a great idea but rubbish execution!
Earlier this year Freely, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, launched to not a lot of fanfare. Whilst love the idea behind it they really have botched the delivery of the platform.
I’ve written a couple of posts in relation to freely and internet broadcasting in general before if you’d like to have a read then you can check them out here.
Where are all the Internet Broadcasters?
It’s so easy the pirates are already doing it Since the second year of my degree, a thought has been bugging me. Why are there no internet/cloud-based broadcasters? We have Over-The-Top stuff light the Red Button or On-demand programming, but the closest we get to prosper live internet broadcasting is live streams on platforms like…
Freely: The Future of Free TV in the UK
A new UK live streaming platform, Freely, set to launch in 2024, will offer Freeview channels online without an aerial, integrating live and on-demand content from major broadcasters to adapt to the digital age. I’m Really Excited about Freely’s potential for TV viewing, addressing its benefits, possible integration with existing services like Plex, and community-generated content, eagerly anticipating the platform’s impact on the future of British television.
Internet broadcasting is nothing new, it has been around for years in various forms and now everyone has the ability to put out a live stream by simply clicking a button in the YouTube app. What is new though is brining all the Public Service Broadcaster Live TV feeds together in one place, here in the UK at least.
As I mentioned in my previous blog posts the Freely service has the potential to be amazing for cord utters like myself. No Ariel’s or satellite dishes just a WiFi connection.and a Freely Enabled TV. And that, in my opinion, is where Everyone TV have failed massively.
Unlike other tech gadgets, such as smart phones , consumers are unlikely to replace their TV every year. If manufacturers are lucky a consumer may replace their TV once every 5 years. Most people I’ve spoken to regarding TV will only replace their TV when their current one has given up the ghost entirely.
One thing all these people have in common though is that when they last replaced their TVs they were smart TVs because the feature came as standard. The creation of a simple app would roll Freely out to practically every TV set in the UK and massively reduce the cost to broadcast for the major PSBs, no need to pay for transmitters, transmitter sites, radio frequency licensing etc.
Don’t get me wrong I know there’s a cost to setting up a streaming server but it’s significantly cheaper than the over the air method.
Rather than creating an app, another option would be to publish a list of video streams for the various channels. Then users with some technical knowledge can add them to to an IPTV app or using free open source software such as xTeVe, import the feeds into Plex. Or even form a partnership with Plex directly to include the Freely channels as a part of Plex’s live streaming offering and include the freely branding.
As much as I’d like the last option I don’t think that will ever officially happen but an app for Smart TVs or set top boxes such as the Apple TV would have been the right way to go. In my (and many others) opinion.
I maybe in the market for a new TV soon but I can almost guarantee a TV with Freely integrated will be outside of our budget for the foreseeable future.
I’d love to know what you think please do either post a comment below or on the socials that brought you here.
