Freely, the UK’s newest streaming platform aiming to succeed Freeview and Freesat, is set to expand its offerings later this month by adding UKTV’s channels.
This will significantly boost Freely’s content library, which already boasts an impressive 70,000 hours of on-demand programming, surpassing major streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ in the UK (if you take into account Freely’s combined services).
The integration of U&Dave, U&Drama, U&Yesterday, and U&W channels, along with the U on-demand service, marks a step forward for Freely, which has faced criticism for its limited channel selection since its launch in April 2024.
While this expansion is welcome news for viewers, offering a broader range of British content, Freely still faces challenges in its quest to become a true Freeview replacement.
The platform’s availability remains restricted to select 2024 Smart TV models, and many popular Freeview channels are still absent from its streaming lineup.
What is Freely?
Freely, developed by Everyone TV (the organisation behind Freeview and Freesat), aims to be the broadband-based successor to these traditional free-to-air services.
Launched earlier this year, Freely offers a unified platform for both live and on-demand content, accessible without an aerial or satellite dish.
The platform provides an Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) that integrates over-the-air TV channels with broadband-based, on-demand content.
This allows viewers to seamlessly browse and access content from the UK’s major broadcasters in one place.
However, Freely’s initial rollout has been limited. The service is only available on select 2024 Smart TV models from manufacturers like Hisense, Bush, Panasonic, and Toshiba, and not on any set-top boxes or older TVs.
This restriction to new TVs has been a significant barrier for many potential users not in the market for a new television.
Furthermore, Freely’s channel lineup has been criticized for its limited scope.
Until now, it has only featured streaming channels from the five main broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and STV.
This falls short of the extensive range available on traditional Freeview or Freesat devices – but the addition of UKTV’s U channels is another step in the right direction.
UKTV’s U Channels Coming To Freely
UKTV is a commercial broadcaster owned by BBC Studios (the commercial arm of the BBC) since 2019.
It’s been a major player in the UK TV (no pun intended) landscape since its inception in 1992 as a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Thames Television.
Known for channels like Dave, Drama, and Yesterday, UKTV offers a mix of original programming and content from the BBC’s extensive archive.
But if you’re still wondering why UKTV is now… U, here’s a quick recap: In July 2024, UKTV rebranded its entire portfolio under the ‘U’ master brand.
This saw changes to channel names, with popular free-to-air channels becoming U&Dave, U&Drama, U&Yesterday, and U&W.
The UKTV Play streaming service was simplified to just ‘U’.
The move also saw an expansion of content, with U offering nearly 8,500 hours of programming at the time of the rebrand, an increase of almost 1,500 hours from the start of the year.
U is available on most streaming devices sold in the UK, and was recently added to Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Now, UKTV is set to bring its on-demand service U to Freely, along with streamed live channels U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W, and U&YESTERDAY.
This addition will significantly expand Freely’s content library, introducing a variety of high-quality titles, including U Originals like The Marlow Murder Club, Battle In The Box, and Emma Willis: Delivering Babies.
UKTV also operates premium channels, such as Gold (a destination for classic British comedy), Alibi (dedicated to crime drama), and Eden (focused on nature and science documentaries), but those are exclusively available on pay-TV platforms such as Sky, and won’t be coming to Freely – at least not at this point.
Jonathan Newman, General Manager, Commercial at UKTV, stated, “We’re delighted that our free-streaming service U and portfolio of free-to-air channels are joining the Freely line-up.
“It further supports our audience-led strategy, ensuring our viewers can easily access UKTV’s content in a digital world.”
Expanding Content Library
With UKTV’s addition, Freely claims it will offer access to 70,000 hours of on-demand content, surpassing major SVODs in the UK, including Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+.
This vast catalogue includes popular British shows like The Traitors, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and Happy Valley, alongside classics such as Gavin & Stacey and Peep Show.
Of course, unlike most other streaming platforms, Freely is made up of several individual apps and services, so you have to play the content on BBC iPlayer, or on ITVX, or U, etc. – and it’s not one app that includes all the content.
Still, at least on Freely TVs, switching between those apps when you want to watch shows aims to be seamless.
Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Everyone TV, emphasized the platform’s focus on British content:
“Freely enables audiences to seamlessly browse and stream a vast library of high-quality content from the UK’s biggest broadcasters, all in one place, but with the added advantage that it’s the same trusted, relevant and reliable programming they have always known.”
Challenges Remain
While the addition of UKTV to Freely is a positive step, the platform still faces significant challenges.
Many popular Freeview channels remain absent from the streaming lineup, meaning viewers still need an aerial connection to access the full range of free-to-air content.
Furthermore, Freely’s limited availability on only new 2024 Smart TV models continues to be a barrier to widespread adoption.
The lack of support for older TVs, set-top boxes, or streaming sticks significantly limits its accessibility.
As Freely continues to evolve, it will need to address these limitations to truly rival established platforms like Freeview and Freesat.
While the expansion of content is promising, the platform still has a way to go before it can be considered a comprehensive replacement for traditional free-to-air services.
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Freely TV’s screen sizes currently start at 43 inch. They should consider also offering smaller screen sizes for people who would like to place a smaller TV, such as 32 inch or 40 inch in their kitchen or bedroom.
Surely Freely must realise that they are doing themselves a grave injustice. By restricting their service to the cheaper end of the TV market, anyone buying a new Samsung, Sony or LG TV in the next few months will be cut off from their service. And they seem to be determined not to be offering a set top box that will record programmes for later playback. Hardly surprising considering who the backers of Freely are. But until they do offer such a thing (or somebody else does) then Freely will remain a minor service ignored by the majority.
I bought a HISENSE 55U7NQTUK from Richer Sounds 55″ as big as we could accommodate.
The picture quality is fabulous and changing streamers is simple with six good ones having their own buttons.
Sound without the Denon sound bar isn’t bad, sound with it is terrific.
We were using a Samsung SMART TV with a Fire stick as we have no aerial or dish. freely is the answer to what we needed.
Freely will grow and grow.
Why mess about with aerials and dishes when you can get masses on Freely. We are conservative viewers (small c) so BBC, ITV, 3, 5, Prime, Netflix, Disney and YouTube keep us busy. We only tend to watch TV between 7.00pm and 11.00pm and not always as much as that.
Freely won’t suit everyone, but with a fast internet connection you probably don’t need a whole lot more.
Freely executives have confirmed that it will eventually be available as an app on other devices. No date has been given.
They are letting the service find its feet and not put too much strain on its servers by launching only on select TVs.
Once stable, they will launch on more devices.
Freely needs to develope a seperate box to entice people to join up, just like when the signal was switching over from analogue to digital. Everyone soon started to buy tvs with a Freeview tuner built in. Also most of the tv apps you can watch on smart tvs so there is no reason to switch to Freely.
Has Everyone TV provided any justification for why they are only supporting Freely on new TVs and not building a Freely app that can be installed on existing devices (in particular streaming sticks)?
Have they said whether they plan to support streaming sticks in the future?
It needs a tuner to function correctly and nobody’s going to make a stick or box with that for some UK only service.
It’s a fragmented mess.
Are you sure? Freely’s own website says “all you need is WiFi – no dish, no box, no need for an aerial”. Tuner might add some extra functionality but it doesn’t seem to be a requirement.