Freely, the UK’s ambitious streaming platform that aims to eventually replace Freeview and Freesat, is making its way to Fire TV-powered televisions this autumn.
Amazon has announced that Freely will be available on select new models, including the Fire TV Omni QLED Series and Fire TV 2-Series. This expansion marks a step forward for the service launched earlier this year, but it comes with some notable limitations.
Unfortunately, Freely won’t be available on existing Fire TV devices, including the popular Fire TV Sticks.
This means that only those willing to invest in new television sets will be able to experience the platform’s blend of traditional channels and online content from the major UK broadcasters.
What is Freely?
Launched in April 2024 by Everyone TV (the folks behind Freeview and Freesat), Freely aims to be the internet-based successor to traditional free TV services.
It offers a single platform for both live and on-demand content, designed to work without an aerial or satellite dish (but with some limitations).
Freely provides a TV guide that combines over-the-air channels with online content from major UK broadcasters.
This lets viewers browse shows from BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, My5, and STV Player all in one place.
Recently, Freely added UKTV’s channels to its lineup, including U&Dave, U&Drama, U&Yesterday, and U&W. This boosted Freely’s on-demand library to 70,000 hours of on-demand content.
However, Freely has faced some hurdles since its launch. Many popular Freeview channels are still missing from its streaming options, so most users would still want to plug an aerial in, which gives them access to the rest of Freeview’s channels (provided they have decent reception).
Also, until now, Freely has only been available on a limited number of 2024 Smart TV models, from manufacturers like Hisense, Bush, Panasonic, and Toshiba.
Freely is not available on any set-top boxes or older TVs, which has further restricted its accessibility.
Freely Comes to Fire TV
Today, Freely announced that it would become available on new Fire TV-powered televisions in the autumn. It will initially launch on Fire TV Omni QLED Series and Fire TV 2-Series sets.
Keep in mind that existing Fire TV televisions, with Freeview Play, would not be getting support for Freely (at least for now) – and only the newly launched TVs are going to support Freely.
Viewers can expect to see Freely integrated into the Fire TV interface, offering easy access to live channels and on-demand content from the UK broadcasters.
The Freely integration will include:
- A combined TV guide for live and on-demand shows
- Access to catch-up services from the major UK broadcasters
- The ability to stream some channels without an aerial connection
Since the Omni TVs include an aerial port (unlike Fire TV sticks), viewers will be able to easily “top up” their channel selection using an aerial.
Jonathan Thompson, CEO at Everyone TV, said: “It’s exciting to see the momentum behind Freely building so rapidly as we announce this breakthrough deal with Amazon Fire TV.
“A deal of this kind, between a technology giant and those working in the public interest, is remarkable. It represents a significant development in widening the availability of Freely and therefore ensuring UK audiences can access free TV well into the future.”
In addition to Amazon’s Omni TVs, Everyone TV has also partnered with smart TV provider TCL, who will bring their new 2024 4k smart TVs with Fire TV OS and Freely to market this autumn.
Panasonic smart TVs with Fire OS will also get Freely this autumn, giving viewers the opportunity to experience Freely on premium OLED TVs for the first time.
Ongoing Challenges
While Freely’s expansion to Fire TV televisions is good news, it doesn’t solve all of the platform’s issues.
Firstly, users still need to buy new TV sets to access Freely. It remains unavailable on older TV models, set-top boxes, or streaming sticks.
This continues to limit how many people can use the service.
Moreover, the problem of limited streaming channels persists. Many Freeview channels still require an aerial connection, as Freely’s streaming offerings are mainly limited to the major broadcasters and UKTV.
Of course, it’s particularly noteworthy that Freely won’t be available on Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks. These popular, affordable devices could have provided an easy way for many viewers to try Freely without buying a new TV.
But frankly, a Fire TV stick version of Freely would have been limited right now.
The big broadcasters like BBC and ITV already have apps on Fire TV sticks, so without more unique streaming channels and no aerial port, a Freely app would just be a fancier way to access content you can already stream.
Therefore, while it’s a shame it’s not available on sticks, it’s not a huge loss – yet.
All in all, Freely’s arrival on Fire TV-powered televisions is a positive development, but it doesn’t address all of the platform’s challenges – the service still requires new hardware purchases and lacks the full channel lineup that made Freeview popular.
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Freely hasn’t yet appeared on my series 2 fire tv, and autumns nearly done
If Freely had an STB or App/website and all Freeview channels were available, then I’d go for it tomorrow. I can’t get a Freeview signal and not allowed a dish. I had Sky Stream for 18 months but just had to cancel it as I couldn’t justify the monthly cost.
Why are you not allowed a dish?
I do live somewhere that doesn’t allow dishes without applying for planning permission (it’s a listed building but no grand house) and that seems quite a process.
There was a piece of EU legislation that overruled the restrictions put on listed buildings and conservation areas, but not sure if it still applies.
A waste of time. We already have streaming services.
Just leave it as it is.Finnish off working on all channels to be in hd on freetsat as it has the space.
If freely was all HD Or 4K then that would be worth it.
I thought Freely did provide everything in HD and that was a selling point?
And certainly useful for people with Freeview lite relay transmitters it should provide a better a better selection of channels.
Of course not having all the channels on Freely and not having an app are severely limiting the above the above.
I honestly don’t see the point of it.
One has to be daft to go for Freely and ditch Freeview and lose the option of recording prgrams for later viewing without worrying if it has not already been deleted on IPlayer. Try watching BBC News at 10 after 2 days after it was broadcast. It’s deleted after 24 hrs and BBC still has no news archive for anyone to access. Also, don’t even try streaming when several people in a household are streaming from different sites regardless how fast your internet connection.
While I kind of get the service not being on streaming sticks as it would probably require being the main OS to function properly there is no reason why it can’t have also launched on a stand alone set top box and ones with the function to record as EE have had that functionality for ages and that has zero issues recording channels delivered over an internet connection. It’s like they haven’t thought it through very well and expect people to rush out and buy a completely new TV for the privilege of accessing it.
Short-sighted. The whole idea of transitioning away from over-the-air will faulter. No one updates their TVs often. Hence stb and now apps support a wider market.
I just get that feeling that Freely doesn’t really want customers. It’s only available on certain low end TV’s, it’s not available as an App which would be the obvious way to get it in to many millions of homes, and it’s still got a very restricted number of channels. Plus there’s still nothing about when (or if) recording of programmes (and therefore ad FF ing) will be available.
In fact, it seems as though most decisions bein g made about the service are designed to deter customers, not encourage them.
Isn’t Panasonic starting to have Freely with TiVo OS as well ?
Yes, those are already available
Over in the US, Comcast’s Xfinity streaming service is available as an app through Roku and Apple TV devices as well as Samsung and LG smart tvs This allows you to navigate through the EPG and select channels. Freely could surely offer the same service with similar technology. Hopefully it will do so soon.
Freely free if you pay for it
Freeview took off pretty quickly due to Freeview boxes which could be used on any type of tv. The guys at Everyone Tv need to do this otherwise Freely is going to be pretty slow in taking off. Not every one can afford a new “smart” tv.
For firestick/cubes not an issue. For other devices it is. Only apple and roku are lisenced for all uk tv apps. A freely app even limited would open up the user base dramatically.
I can only assume they are selling Freely to TV manufacturers based on a level of exclusivity from old models and add-on devices/sticks.
And maybe with an element of not wanting to show what is missing from the streamed lineup that you still need to get OTA.
Personally I’d live with that to get HD versions of all channels from the big broadcasters, but I’m not buying a new TV for that!