Freely: The Future of Free TV in the UK

I may be a bit behind the times when it comes to the launch of Freely, but I am excited for its launch. This post has been sitting on my phone for a few weeks now having written it whilst waiting in hospital corridors, a story for another time maybe. I’m glad that I finally remembered to post it though as I’d like to hear your thoughts on Freely and what it means for the future of TV in the UK.

If you are a fan of free TV in the UK, you might have heard of the exciting news that the public service broadcasters (PSBs) are launching a new service called Freely in 2024.

Freely is a live streaming platform that will deliver all the channels available on Freeview over the internet, rather than via an aerial. This means that you will be able to watch live TV from BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and more on your smart TV, without needing a separate box or antenna.

Freely is being developed by Everyone TV, the organization that runs Freesat and Freeview, and is jointly owned by the PSBs. The aim is to ensure that all viewers have access to a free, aggregated live TV experience that champions British content and is delivered in a way that suits audience needs and preferences. Freely will also offer on-demand content from the PSBs, so you can catch up on your favorite shows or discover new ones.

Freely is not only a great service for viewers, but also a vital one for the PSBs. As more and more people switch to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, PSBs face the challenge of maintaining their prominence and relevance in the digital age. Freely will help them reach new audiences, especially younger viewers, who are more likely to watch TV online. Freely will also help them secure their funding, as they rely on the license fee and advertising revenue to produce quality content.

You may be wondering why I’m so excited. In one of my posts from way back when I had a bit of a rant about how IPTV was the next big thing and wondering why none of the big broadcasters had jumped on the bandwagon already. Now it’s finally happening.

Sky has rolled out its version, using their proprietary Sky stream puck, and having had a chance to play with it for a month or so I have to say I’m impressed. EE/BT have also jumped on the bandwagon charging a ridiculous amount for services we’ll soon be able to get for free. They’ve both revamped the guide and you can watch anything from the last 7 days or so on demand and everything live is streamed straight to their particular box.

What I would like to see, and there’s no word on this yet, is an app for current smart TVs and platforms such as AppleTV. We love our Apple TV and being able to just install an app to watch Live TV would be amazing. Even better a Plex plugin so that we can watch it on any screen with a web browser.

Plex has a feature for its Plex Pass subscribers that allows them to attach a DVB device to their server or network so folks can watch live TV right from Plex. What would be great is if there was a built-in option to either add the Freely streams via an app add-on or (preferably and) have the ability to add IPTV streams directly in Plex.

I’m not sure those thoughts will happen out of the box, or even at all unless Plex themselves can come up with some sort of deal with Everyone TV, but it only takes a third-party developer to find the streams and it could be a possibility with a solution like TV Headend and a Plex pass subscription.

Something I would like to be introduced in the future would be a way for confirmed community groups to launch their own Channels. I can see that adding a least a shared community channel for different topics such as amateur radio, the Arts, technology, etc and bringing these communities to a wider audience. With what is an unlimited number of video feeds with IPTV based Freely the only limitations are arbitary. Something that could be implemented is to allow end users to add their customer video feeds to their FreelyTV or Set Top Box.

It’s relatively easy for community groups to set up their broadcasts these days with the, relatively, cheap hardware from companies such as Blackmagic you can create a basic 3-camera setup with playback for a few thousand pounds (can anyone else see another blog post in the future pricing everything up?).

Overall though, I am very excited about Freely and what it means for the future of British television. I think it is a brilliant idea that will benefit both viewers and broadcasters, and I can’t wait to try it out when it launches next year. I hope you are as excited as I am, and I would love to hear your thoughts on Freely in the comments below. Until then, happy watching!