Beyond Freeview: Freely Finally Lands On Roku TVs

Freely, the UK’s streaming-focused successor to Freeview, is expanding yet again – this time landing on Roku-powered televisions.

Everyone TV (the organisation behind Freely, Freeview and Freesat) has just announced a partnership with global streaming giant Roku, bringing the platform to a new range of TVs running Roku’s operating system.

From this month (June 2025), Freely will be integrated into new Sharp, JVC, and METZ models with the Roku OS, as well as introducing Polaroid TVs with Freely for the first time.

But is this really a game-changer, or just another incremental step for a platform that’s still frustratingly limited to new tellies?

Freely And Roku Coming Together

The partnership means Freely will become the default TV Guide on these new Roku-powered sets, bringing together live and on-demand content from the UK’s major broadcasters in one place.

For the uninitiated, Roku is a massive player in the streaming world – they’re the number one TV streaming platform in North America, reaching over 90 million households worldwide.

They’ve been operating in the UK since 2012, with their devices available at all major retailers.

Roku is particularly known for its simple, user-friendly interface – which actually pairs quite nicely with Freely’s own focus on ease of use.

However, in the past, I’ve criticised Roku TVs with Freeview Play for having the Freeview component completely disconnected from the Roku ecosystem.

This meant that Roku’s voice search, for example, couldn’t find Freeview content, and the two systems essentially operated as separate entities within the same television.

It remains to be seen whether this Freely integration will suffer from the same disjointed experience or if Roku has figured out how to create a truly unified interface.

It’s also worth noting that METZ isn’t new to either Roku or Freely – the German manufacturer (owned by Chinese electronics giant Skyworth) launched Roku TVs in the UK back in 2023, and earlier this year released a range of Freely TVs running TiVo’s operating system.

But now they’re bringing both elements together for the first time, along with a few additional manufacturers.

A Quick Freely Refresher

Launched in April 2024, Freely is designed to be the streaming-age successor to Freeview and Freesat.

It offers a unified interface where you can access both live TV channels and on-demand content from the UK’s major broadcasters – ideally without needing an aerial or satellite dish (though there are caveats).

Since its somewhat modest launch last year, Freely has been steadily expanding. It now offers more than 55 streaming channels from broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, UKTV, and others.

Last month, it received the “Freely Next” update, adding long-awaited features like a Backwards TV Guide that lets you scroll back through seven days of programmes, and a “Never Miss” feature that highlights what’s coming up, on now, and what you’ve just missed.

Who Else Is In The Freely Club?

The Roku deal expands an already growing list of TV manufacturers and operating systems that support Freely.

The complete lineup now includes Amazon Fire TVs, Bush, Hisense, JVC, METZ, Panasonic, Philips, Polaroid, Sharp, TCL and Toshiba.

That’s a decent spread, representing a significant portion of the UK TV market, but it’s still missing some major players – most notably Samsung and LG, which account for a substantial chunk of UK TV sales.

Roku Sticks vs. Roku TVs

For those unfamiliar with the distinction, Roku offers two main product types:

1. Roku Streaming Sticks (and boxes) – These are standalone devices that plug into any TV with an HDMI port, essentially turning it into a smart TV. These range from the budget-friendly Roku Streaming Stick (£29.99) to the premium Roku Streaming Stick 4K with Dolby Vision support, with new models arriving in the UK in the coming weeks.

2. Roku TVs – These are complete television sets with Roku’s operating system built in. The OS handles everything from input selection to streaming apps, with the same user-friendly interface found on the sticks.

This new deal only covers the latter – actual television sets with Roku built in – and not the far more affordable and accessible streaming sticks.

It’s a similar situation to what we saw with Amazon last autumn, when Freely came to Fire TV-powered televisions but not to the popular Fire TV Sticks.

The Elephant In The Room: Still No Standalone Box

While the Roku TV deal is good news for anyone planning to buy one of these new sets, it doesn’t address Freely’s biggest limitation – you still can’t get it unless you shell out for a brand-new telly.

There’s still no standalone box or streaming stick that would allow the millions of us with perfectly good older TVs to access Freely without forking out hundreds of quid for a new set.

This has been a glaring issue since day one, and a question I’ve badgered Freely representatives about on multiple occasions.

There was a glimmer of hope last month when BBC Director-General Tim Davie revealed the broadcaster is “considering a streaming media device with Freely capabilities built in, with a radically simplified user interface.”

But we’ve had no further details since then, and this latest announcement makes no mention of bringing Freely to existing (or future) Roku Streaming Sticks – which would be an obvious and relatively easy way to expand the platform’s reach. 

Furthermore, as with other Freely TVs, older Roku TVs won’t get support for Freely (at least at this point) – and only these brand new, specific models would include Freely.

It’s particularly odd given that Roku already has a huge user base with its standalone streaming devices in the UK. A simple software update could potentially bring Freely to millions of homes overnight.

Should You Get A Roku TV With Freely?

If you’re in the market for a new TV anyway, a Roku model with Freely built in could be a solid choice. Roku’s interface is one of the better ones out there – clean, intuitive, and not overly cluttered with ads or sponsored content.

The combination of Roku’s user-friendly system and Freely’s unified guide for UK content could make for a pleasant viewing experience.

And if you do happen to have a decent aerial setup, you can still use that to access the full range of Freeview channels alongside Freely’s streaming offerings.

However, if you’ve got a perfectly good TV already, this announcement doesn’t change much for you. There’s still no way to add Freely to your existing setup without buying a whole new telly.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Free TV

The Roku partnership is yet another sign that Freely is slowly but surely establishing itself as the heir apparent to Freeview and Freesat. With the BBC openly pushing for an “IP switchover in the 2030s,” it’s clear that traditional aerial-based broadcasting is on borrowed time.

By 2040, government research suggests that more than 70% of UK homes will have ditched aerials entirely, getting all their telly through broadband instead.

For Freely to truly succeed as Freeview’s replacement, though, it still needs to address two critical issues:

1. Availability on affordable standalone devices for existing TVs
2. A more complete channel lineup that doesn’t require an aerial backup

The new Roku TVs with Freely built in will be available from UK retailers starting this month. 

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