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Freely comes to Smart TVs from Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic and Metz. The latest set of partnerships signed by Everyone TV – the organization behind Freeview and Freesat, backed by the UK’s biggest broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – sees the number of TV brands with plans to support Freely out of a total of six. Launched freely in April in Britain with a handful of Hisense TVs.
The biggest absentee remains Samsung, the largest TV brand in the world for eighteen years in a row. Everyone on TV has been teasing that we can “expect new smart TV brands” in the coming months, but there’s no guarantee that Samsung will decide to adopt this new platform.
For now, anyone who buys a new Smart TV from Hisense, Bush, Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic or Metz will use Freely to stream live television, catch-up and on-demand box sets. The successor to Freeview omits the traditional TV antenna.
Freely is not a software update to existing Freeview hardware. Instead, this has been built from the ground up for streaming and comes with a new user interface and modern features such as the ability to pause and restart live shows from free-to-air channels such as BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
EVERYONE TV PRESS OFFICES
Instead, the most popular free-to-air channels are streamed via a wireless or wired internet connection. This is similar to solutions such as Sky Glass and Sky Stream, Virgin media streamand the rebooted EE TV launched last year. If you rely on a broadband connection, you can place your television anywhere in your home with a decent Wi-Fi signal, not where the antenna goes into the wall.
However, this industry-wide trend has led some experts to sound the alarm for those without a decent internet connection By 2040, people may no longer be able to watch live television.
Freely is not available as a software update for existing Freeview or Freesat viewers. Since it requires new hardware, you can only benefit from it are new features – like the ability to access all on-demand episodes from a show’s listing in the TV Guide and the ability to restart a show from the beginning with a single tap – when you upgrade to a new television.
Toshiba’s new Freely-compatible TVs offer QLED 4K picture quality paired with Dolby Atmos-certified sound, while Sharp will integrate Freely into its new range of 4K and 4K QLED Smart TVs. Panasonic will embrace Freely for its 2024 range of 4K OLED, QLED and LED TVs.
Metz, one of Germany’s oldest television brands, is set to launch new Freely-compatible QLED+ TVs that feature Dolby Vision and Atmos. These high-end flat screens will be available in 43, 50, 55 and 65-inch screen sizes.
These new partnerships cover a healthy mix of price points, although it’s interesting that some brands — Toshiba and Metz — have decided to prioritize Freely in the higher-end, feature-packed TVs. That suggests they see its functionality, such as the ability to pause live television, as a more premium offering than Freeview.
Metz will use Freely to watch the largest free-to-air channels and catch-up services from the air on its QLED+ TVs with Dolby Vision and Atmos
METZ PRESS OFFICES
Speaking about the new partnerships, Deep Halder, Chief Commercial Officer of Everyone TV said: “Having recently launched Freely on new Hisense and Bush TVs, we are pleased to announce the increased availability of Freely with four new smart TV partners to be launched later. this year.
“Freely is a joint venture between the UK’s leading broadcasters and is built on collaboration. It’s encouraging to see more and more industry people coming together to contribute to Freely’s success and work together to shape the future of free-to-air television to secure.”
Everyone on TV says you can enjoy linear television at speeds of up to 10 Mbps via your broadband connection. By comparison, Netflix only requires 5 Mbps for 1080p HD picture quality. For reference, in April 2023, Ofcom reported that the average download speed for UK homes was 70 Mbps.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
As long as you have a valid TV license, everything on Freely brings free live and on-demand content into one place. The launch of this broadband platform comes as research shows that half of British households will watch television exclusively via Wi-Fi by 2030.
In addition to channels from BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Everyone TV confirmed that discussions are underway with UKTV to bring its portfolio of free-to-air channels to Freely via your broadband connection. UKTV, the award-winning brand that owns and operates channels such as Dave, Drama, Yesterday and W announced plans to undergo an extensive rebranding next month.