The Freely Box That Spells Doom for Freeview And Freesat

Traditional Freeview and Freesat are living on borrowed time – and the upcoming set-top Freely streaming box shows exactly where we’re heading.

Last week, Everyone TV announced that their long-awaited Freely box is finally happening – but we revealed a detail that tells you everything about where British television is heading: the new device, launching later this year, won’t have an aerial port at all.

For those unfamiliar with Freely, it’s Everyone TV’s attempt to drag free television into the streaming age. Instead of using an aerial or satellite dish, Freely delivers live TV channels and catch-up services through your broadband connection.

It launched in April 2024 on new smart TVs, offering access to BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and around 40 other channels.

Current Freely TVs include aerial connections to “top up” with traditional Freeview channels that haven’t made the streaming transition yet. But the new Freely box abandons that compromise entirely – you get what’s available through your broadband connection, and nothing else.

It’s a streaming-only vision of free TV that solves some problems while creating others – and it’s happening whether you’re ready for it or not.

Here’s what that means for your television watching.

Following Sky and Virgin’s Streaming-First Playbook

Freely isn’t pioneering this streaming-only approach – it’s following the lead of every major TV provider in the UK, all of whom have quietly made a similar decision.

Sky, the company that built its empire on satellite dishes, now gets 90% of its new customers through Sky Stream and Glass – a box that works exactly like the upcoming Freely device.

No aerial port, no satellite connection, just internet streaming. Even Sky Glass treats its built-in aerial as nothing more than an “emergency backup” that can’t integrate with Sky’s main streaming services.

Virgin Media made an even more aggressive move recently, quietly switching to make their aerial-free Stream box the default for all new customers.

Want traditional Virgin TV 360 with actual cable connections? You’ll need to ask specifically and pay extra – if it’s even available in your area.

This is exactly the path Freely is now taking. The platform launched with aerial support as a compromise, letting you access traditional Freeview channels that hadn’t made the streaming transition yet.

But the new Freely box from Netgem strips that away, forcing a choice: accept what’s available through streaming, or stick with traditional Freeview equipment that’s increasingly being abandoned.

For viewers in areas with poor aerial reception, this could actually be liberating.

Freely’s streaming approach means you can get BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and other main channels with perfect picture quality, regardless of hills, buildings, or dodgy aerial installations that plague traditional Freeview.

But it also means accepting that dozens of smaller channels simply won’t exist in Freely’s world – unless they can afford to run their own streaming services, they’ll disappear when traditional broadcasting ends.

Government Policy: Freely as the 2040 Solution

The government hasn’t been shy about their plans for television’s future, and Freely sits right at the centre of that vision.

When BBC bosses faced MPs earlier this year, they were honest about supporting the transition to internet-based television by 2040 – as long as someone else pays for it.

Research by the University of Exeter shows that by then, around 70% of UK homes will rely entirely on broadband for their television.

Freely is clearly designed to be the solution for those homes. It offers the main public service channels that the government considers essential, delivered through broadband rather than traditional broadcasting.

No aerial required, no satellite dish needed, just plug into your internet connection and go.

For the estimated 1.5 million households who might struggle with this transition – older people, rural communities, lower-income families – Freely’s approach creates both opportunities and problems.

On the positive side, Freely could solve reception issues that have plagued traditional Freeview for years. If you’ve got decent broadband, you get reliable access to the main channels (and plenty of others) regardless of geographical obstacles.

But that “decent broadband” requirement is important. The average UK broadband connection costs nearly £27 per month – a significant barrier for households where that money could mean the difference between heating and eating.

While discounted social tariffs exist, only 220,000 homes use them despite 4.3 million being eligible.

Freely transforms “free” TV from genuinely free (once you have the equipment) to requiring an ongoing monthly internet subscription.

Some would say broadband is like electricity or water at this point – but for vulnerable households, that’s not a trivial change.

Why Traditional Broadcasting Can’t Compete

The Freely approach isn’t just about convenience – it’s about economics that make traditional broadcasting increasingly impossible to sustain.

The UK is still using broadcasting technology from the 1990s, making us notably behind countries like France and Spain that have upgraded to more efficient systems.

This technological lag becomes critical after 2031, when TV broadcasters might need to share their radio spectrum with mobile companies.

Freely sidesteps this entire problem by using the internet instead of radio waves. While traditional Freeview faces spectrum pressure and outdated technology, Freely can offer channels in HD or even 4K quality limited only by your broadband speed.

The BBC’s own analysis shows why this matters financially. By 2030, traditional satellite broadcasting will cost around five times more per viewer hour than today, simply because fewer people are watching linear TV.

Freely’s internet-based approach scales much more efficiently – adding new viewers doesn’t require expensive transmitter infrastructure or spectrum management.

For broadcasters, Freely offers something traditional Freeview can’t: detailed viewing analytics. They know exactly what you’re watching, when you stop watching, and what you watch next.

This data goldmine helps justify the cost of streaming services in ways that traditional broadcasting never could.

But this efficiency comes with trade-offs. Traditional Freeview continues working during internet outages and some power cuts. Freely goes dark the moment your broadband fails, creating potential problems for emergency broadcasting that haven’t been fully addressed.

The Recording Problem Freely Won’t Solve

One of the biggest casualties of Freely’s streaming-only approach is something many viewers still value: the ability to record programmes.

As we’ve covered extensively, TV recording is already dying across all platforms.

The Manhattan T4-R represents possibly the last great Freeview recorder, but Manhattan has made it clear they won’t support Freely due to its lack of recording functionality (though they could, in theory, release their version of the standalone Freely box in the future).

Freely’s approach to this is telling. Instead of recording, you get a 15-minute pause buffer and the promise that programmes will be available through broadcasters’ catch-up services.

Miss something? Hopefully it’s on iPlayer. Want to rewatch that documentary next year? Better hope the BBC hasn’t moved it to a paid subscription service like Netflix.

This represents a fundamental shift from ownership to access. Traditional Freeview recording let you build a permanent library of programmes that couldn’t disappear due to licensing disputes or broadcaster whims.

Freely makes everything temporary and dependent on ongoing streaming agreements.

For some viewers, this won’t matter. If you’re comfortable with catch-up services and rarely rewatch programmes, Freely’s approach might actually be more convenient than managing recordings and storage.

But for households that rely on recording to skip adverts, build libraries of content, or watch programmes on their own schedule, Freely only offers a partial solution.

The streaming-only future it represents simply doesn’t accommodate these viewing habits.

The Freesat Promise That Never Materialised

When Freely launched, Everyone TV made a significant promise: satellite-compatible devices would follow, giving Freesat viewers a path into the streaming future.

More than a year later, there’s no sign of these satellite-enabled Freely devices, and Everyone TV is keeping mute on whether they’re still planned.

Sky’s recent decision to extend its satellite contract until 2029 gives Freesat a temporary reprieve, but it doesn’t change the fundamental economics – when Sky finally abandons satellite broadcasting, the infrastructure becomes unviable for just 1 million Freesat homes.

Freely’s original satellite promise suggested a hybrid approach where existing Freesat viewers could gradually transition to streaming while keeping their dishes as backup (as is currently the case on Freely TVs, with their aerial port).

The new aerial-free Freely box suggests that Everyone TV is slowly abandoning this compromise.

Instead, Freesat viewers will eventually face a stark choice: stick with satellite services that have a clear expiry date, or jump directly to streaming-only Freely with no satellite fallback.

For rural areas where Freesat often provides better signal quality than terrestrial Freeview, this creates particular problems.

Freely requires reliable broadband that simply isn’t available in many areas where satellite TV has been the preferred solution.

What Freely Gets Right (And Wrong)

The upcoming Freely box represents both the promise and the limitations of streaming-only television.

 

On the positive side, Freely solves real problems that have frustrated viewers for years. No more adjusting aerials for better reception, no more pixelated pictures during bad weather, no more missing channels because you’re in a poor coverage area.

If you have decent broadband, you get consistent access to the main UK channels with perfect picture quality.

Freely’s interface also offers features that traditional Freeview can’t match. The unified programme guide spans both live channels and catch-up services, making it easier to find content regardless of how you want to watch it.

The “Never Miss” functionality and personalised recommendations provide a more modern viewing experience than traditional electronic programme guides.

For viewers who’ve struggled with poor Freeview reception or complex arrays of streaming apps, Freely genuinely simplifies television watching.

But the limitations are there. The channel lineup is restricted to broadcasters who can afford their own streaming infrastructure. Recording becomes impossible, forcing complete dependence on broadcaster-controlled catch-up services.

Most critically, Freely makes television entirely dependent on internet connectivity. No broadband means no TV at all, not even the ability to watch programmes you might have recorded earlier. 

The Transition Timeline: What Happens Next

The Freely box announcement signals that the transition is accelerating, but it won’t happen overnight.

Current Freely TVs will continue working with their aerial connections, giving hybrid households time to adapt gradually. And we might even see future Freely boxes that bring the aerial port back.

Traditional Freeview isn’t disappearing immediately – Ofcom’s roadmap suggests major changes won’t begin until after 2030.

But the direction is clear. New devices like the Netgem Freely box are being designed for a streaming-only world, while traditional broadcasting infrastructure receives minimal investment and faces increasing pressure from spectrum demands and declining viewership.

For current Freeview users, the next few years represent a decision point. Stick with traditional equipment and accept that channel lineups may shrink and technology won’t improve, or embrace Freely’s streaming approach with its benefits and limitations.

The government’s 2040 target for widespread streaming adoption might seem distant, but the infrastructure changes needed to support that transition are happening now.

The Freely box represents the first major piece of hardware designed specifically for that streaming-only future.

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