FREELY. Live TV over broadband 2024
Discussion
At last. A full live TV service over IP, including a full EPG.
Freely is owned and supported by BBC, ITV, C4 and C5, and they have said it will replicate a terrestial TV experience.
Can’t believe it’s taken this long, but it seems we might be able to finally cut the cord next year.
https://www.everyonetv.co.uk/news/press-release/ne...
Freely is owned and supported by BBC, ITV, C4 and C5, and they have said it will replicate a terrestial TV experience.
Can’t believe it’s taken this long, but it seems we might be able to finally cut the cord next year.
https://www.everyonetv.co.uk/news/press-release/ne...
t and streaming that would replicate the BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 terrestial TV experience most evenings.Mr Pointy said:
There will be several issues when Freely does come on line. You'll have to sign up & log in; the main reason for building the platform is to gather subscriber data for the advertisers - ITV & C4 already do this. There will be no recording feature so programme retention is at the whim of the broadcasters but the main issue will be no fast forwarding through the adverts - a casualty of the no recording function.
Be careful what you wish for.
Fast forward is a feature they are looking at in for the future apparently.Be careful what you wish for.
Logging in doesn’t bother me, all online stuff requires this. If its that much of an issue, just create a dedicated user / email for it.
Mr Pointy said:
I agree about the logging in but the key for me will be how responsive the player is when shuttling & searching. I record anything I watch that has adverts & have FF them with a six button presses.
It will be interesting to see if they turn off the terrestrial transmitters - I belive the TV frequencies were not given up recently.
Terrestrial is here for quite some time yet, but will become obsolete at some point.It will be interesting to see if they turn off the terrestrial transmitters - I belive the TV frequencies were not given up recently.
I’m with you on the record everything though, simply for avoiding adverts with the FF. I use the Manhattan PVR, great bit of kit. They were touting Freely with the launch of their new PVR - T4R, but see it’s gone from their site now. Presumably because HiSense paid a load of wonga to Freely to get exclusivity.
dickymint said:
Yes but 50% of that is for Sky and TNT sports that is a must for me.
Just a bit ironic that you comment you don’t see the point of a free platform for streaming, but willing to pay £80 / month for other streaming services.Personally I find that’s a lot of wonga just to watch the tellybox.
dickymint said:
Yes I’m all for a free platform for streaming but it’s not ‘free’ as you still have to pay for broadband. How much do you pay for your broadband?
Not sure I get your point. I have broadband now and not Freely.
If I get Freely it will be a free addition. It won’t cost me any more regardless of whether I use it or not.
At this point it’s moot anyway. I’m not getting a new telly and I haven’t actually tried it yet. It could be fantastic or crap.
Edited by Ham_and_Jam on Wednesday 1st May 09:39
dickymint said:
this is one of the points I'm trying to make - I stream everything I need (I have an aerial but it's not plugged In) All on the same EPG and with a single remote. I don't have to struggle with apps, I hate them. Freely can offer me nothing that I can't already do plus a lot more and I don't have to buy 3 new TV's to use it. So what's the plus side of Freely TV? I'd love to know and am prepared to eat humble pie if I missed something 
It isn’t being launched to the masses yet. It’s being launched exclusively with the two manufacturers mentioned who are using it to push the sales of their TVs. Which is a shame.
It will become a normal plug in stick / box / app etc when the launch period with HiSense runs out.
You are currently paying a big premium to do what you have described. Freely hopefully will do that for no extra cost…eventually.
It may or may not be the answer. It hasn’t been launched with the full suite of features, nobody here has yet tried it. I do know though that this will be probably the way terrestrial TV drifts in the future.
dickymint said:
It feels like I'm banging my head on a brick wall in here so............... I might as well
I'm currently watching my TV without the aerial plugged in, Why? because I don't have to (which is good because it's in my attic and the signal is piss poor in bad weather and aligned to a local mast in Wales and wont pick up the Mendips mast) I stream all Freeview channels live (as live as streaming can be) I can pause, record 1TB of programmes. It's all available on the same programme guide so using apps is pretty rare. Here's a screenshot of the first page of the EPG taken just now................
I also have all Sky Sports and TNT Sports on the same EPG and much more. So no need for Now TV's or Discovery+'s crappy app etc.
What else do you need?
As it stands Freely has absolutely nothing to offer (and bear in mind you still need to pay for broadband as it doesn't offer anything via an aerial) that can't be done now, and more!
Out of interest what do you pay for broadband and TV plus TNT and Now TV ?
It may offer nothing to you, but other peoples circumstances exist.I'm currently watching my TV without the aerial plugged in, Why? because I don't have to (which is good because it's in my attic and the signal is piss poor in bad weather and aligned to a local mast in Wales and wont pick up the Mendips mast) I stream all Freeview channels live (as live as streaming can be) I can pause, record 1TB of programmes. It's all available on the same programme guide so using apps is pretty rare. Here's a screenshot of the first page of the EPG taken just now................
I also have all Sky Sports and TNT Sports on the same EPG and much more. So no need for Now TV's or Discovery+'s crappy app etc.
What else do you need?
As it stands Freely has absolutely nothing to offer (and bear in mind you still need to pay for broadband as it doesn't offer anything via an aerial) that can't be done now, and more!
Out of interest what do you pay for broadband and TV plus TNT and Now TV ?
I can’t get BT / EE so your option doesn’t exist for me. I certainly wouldn’t pay £80 / month for broadband / TV subscriptons. I’m paying more than I want at the moment.
To answer your question - I pay £45 / month for FTTP broadband, NowTv, Netflix and Prime. I’ll ditch NowTv when it ends ends.
dickymint said:
How come you can't get BT/EE? You live in a rural location with no plan yet for a decent connection? That's similar to me as I can only get BT Fibre to the cabinet at the moment. There is a company that just started supplying FFTP via overhead lines at very good rates but alas that wont connect to BT/EE TV.
I live in a city that doesn’t have BT / OpenReach. Pretty much every property has FTTP, but until this year we only had one provider.I thinking judging Freely before it has launched is a bit premature. Let’s see how it performs, especially once it has become mainstream and the features are developed.
blueST said:
Seems really odd that they aren't launching with an app that will allow casting to existing smart tvs, Chromecast or Fire stick and also enable people to watch on the go. I watch a lot of free to air stuff via the respective apps, and have it consolidated in one place with a decent guide would be a good step forward.
Yeah I think a missed opportunity, but I guess they got a chunk of money (or support) from HiSense for exclusivity. If not a stupid move.SpidersWeb said:
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival.
What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
Is it a 5 year deal? Haven’t dug too deep, but if it is then I’ll sign off now…What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
SpidersWeb said:
A surprisingly large number - www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/media-nations-20... - 79% of the population watched some traditional broadcast tv at least once a week, but not necessarily for very long.
And although overall the average viewer watches just over 2 1/2 hours a day of traditional broadcast tv, for some groups the time spent viewing each day is pretty minimal with 16-24 year olds averaging only 39 minutes a day and 4-15 year olds at 41 minutes - so lots of elderly people watching Homes under the Hammer all day to push up the time to achieve the overall average.
It doesn’t surprise me, virtually everyone I know tends to watch mostly Terrestrial TV with on demand for stuff they missed.And although overall the average viewer watches just over 2 1/2 hours a day of traditional broadcast tv, for some groups the time spent viewing each day is pretty minimal with 16-24 year olds averaging only 39 minutes a day and 4-15 year olds at 41 minutes - so lots of elderly people watching Homes under the Hammer all day to push up the time to achieve the overall average.
A good Freely or similar streaming alternative would quickly change that.
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