ITV’s new streaming service, ITVX, is not going to work on many popular (albeit older) Freeview boxes, Freesat boxes and Smart TVs that are still present in many households across the UK.
ITVX, which went live this week (weeks ahead of its “official” December 8 launch date), is set to replace ITV’s previous streaming app, ITV Hub.
Users don’t need to install a new app, as the ITVX app will “go over” their existing ITV Hub. As of this writing, the new app is still rolling out across supported devices.
However, devices that have lost access to ITV Hub in recent months – including Freeview and Freesat recorders from Humax, older Samsung TVs and more (see the full list below) – will not gain access to ITVX.
This is due to ITV upgrading the content protection technology on its streaming platform, which makes both ITV Hub, and the new ITVX app, incompatible with some older devices.
What Is ITVX?
This week, ITV soft-launched its brand new streaming service, ITVX, which will replace its ageing ITV Hub app (ahead of of a December 8 ‘official’ launch, when many ITVX Originals will be added).
ITV is aiming for ITVX to be much more than a “catch-up” service, and more of a streaming destination: it launched with more than 10,000 free (with adverts) hours of on-demand content, including 35 flagship shows, 200+ series and 250+ films.
New shows will launch weekly – many of which will be available on ITVX long before they air on ITV’s old-school linear channels.
Furthermore, you can also stream all of ITV’s live channels via the app, as well as several “themed” ad-supported live channels that are dedicated to a single series or theme.
While ITV is focusing heavily on the ad-supported free tier, ITVX will also have a paid Premium tier, which will remove all the adverts when you’re watching on-demand content.
Furthermore, Premium tier subscribers will also get access to the entire content library of BritBox (on ITVX), which includes more than 4,000 hours of classic British shows and films (including 600 classic Doctor Who episodes).
The standalone BritBox app and service will continue to co-exist alongside ITVX, but ITX Premium subscribers won’t get access to the BritBox app, and vice versa.
- Also See: Many Facing Errors And Crashes On ITVX
ITVX Not Coming To Older Devices And TVs
Back in September, ITV Hub stopped working on quite a few older set-top boxes and TVs, including Smart TVs from brands such as Hisense and Panasonic, several specific TV models from Samsung, and Humax’s Freesat boxes and Freeview boxes.
This was due to software upgrades (specifically relating to copy protection) that were no longer compatible with some older devices.
Some of those that lost access were hoping to get the ITVX app when it launches, but unfortunately, that is not the case.
As of this writing, all devices that lost access to ITV Hub, will also not gain access to the new ITVX app.
In theory, some device manufacturers might be able to update their OS in a way that supports the new ITVX app – but since these are older devices, that is unlikely to happen (plus, sometimes the limitation is hardware-based, so software changes won’t be enough).
The list of incompatible devices includes some that were quite popular for a long time (such as Humax’s Freesat boxes and older Samsung TVs), and therefore are still present in a lot of UK households, which will no longer have access to ITV’s streaming app.
Furthremore, at least one device – the Humax FVP-5000T Freeview recorder, is still being sold as new, online and in high street shops – therefore some people will be buying it without knowing it no longer supports ITV Hub and ITVX.
But Humax confirmed to us that the only set-top box which will continue to support ITVX, is their Freeview Recorder/Android TV combo, Humax Aura.
It’s important to note that the linear ITV Freeview/Freesat channels – the ones you’re getting via an aerial (or satellite, on Freesat) – will not be affected by this change.
The only part that will stop working, on affected devices, is the broadband-based ITVX app, which is used to stream content.
Devices And Smarts TVs That Won’t Get ITVX:
Freeview Boxes:
- Humax FVP-5000T
- Humax FVP-4000T
Freesat Boxes (Generation 2 and older)
- Humax Hb1000s
- Humax Hdr1000s
- Humax Hdr1010s
- Humax Hdr1100s
- Humax Hb1100s
Samsung TV Models Running Tizen OS 2.3:
Tizen is Samsung’s OS for Smart TVs (as well as some other devices from Samsung). It’s being used on newer models as well (2022 models are running Tizen 6.5), but the only affected OS version that will not get ITVX is Tizen 2.3.
Older Samsung TVs (from 2015 and back), that don’t have the Tizen operating system at all, will also not be getting ITVX.
Note that some of the models listed here were not sold in the UK, but I’m including the full list for easier reference.
Also note that the version numbers presented here usually make the last part of the actual TV model, since most versions/series were sold under several available TV sizes.
So, for example, JS9000 could have been sold as UE55JS9000T (for the UltraHD European 55″ model), UE48JS9000T (for the UltraHD European 48″ model), etc.
Premium Series: JS9900, JS9800, JS9500, JS9000, JS9100
Standard Series: JU5900, JU5910, JU5920, JU8000, JU7800, JU7500, JU7000, JS8500, JS8000, JU6900, JU6410, JU6400, JU6300, JS6900, JU6390, JU6000, JU6100, US9A, JU6800, JU6740, JU6700, JU6600, JU6510, JU6500, JS8600, JS6700, JU7090, J6400, JS6000, J6330, J6300, J6240, J6200, J5520, J5510, J5500, J5300, TE390S
Entry Series: K5200, J6203, J5373, J5370, J5303, J5300, J5290, J5278, J5270, J5248, J5205, J5202, J5201, J5200, J5190, J4700,UJ4600, J4570, J4500, J4303, J4300, J4290, J4200, H4501
Newer Samsung TVs (from 2016 onwards, with Tizen 2.4 and up) are not affected by this and should have access to ITVX.
More Smart TVs That Don’t Support ITVX:
Hisense MTK5657 / Hisense MTK5658 – Smart TV models from 2016.
TCL 6586 6 Series – Smart TVs from 2018.
Avtex – TVs and devices from 2016 onwards.
CTVE – TVs and devices from 2013 onwards.
Panasonic TV 2016 D MT5810
Panasonic TV 2015 C MT5595, Diga
Panasonic TV 2018 F HD MT5581
Sharp UMC MSD6486
Sharp UMC MS6586
Sharp UMC 6486X
How Can I Watch ITVX?
If you still own one of the aforementioned devices, ITVX will likely not work on them. However, there are other devices you can use to watch ITV’s new streaming app.
The updated ITVX app should be compatible with many other streaming devices (once it finishes rolling out), including:
- Amazon Fire TV (Sticks and Edition TVs)
- Android TV: Sony Android and Chromecast with GoogleTV
- Apple iPhones and iPads (OS v12 or later)
- Apple TV (Gen3 onwards)
- Chromecast devices
- Freesat Boxes and TVs (Except Panasonic TVs from 2015 and earlier with built-in Freesat, and G2 Freesat boxes)
- Freeview Play boxes (such as the Manhattan T3-R or Humax Aura) and TVs
- Android Mobiles (OS v5 and later)
- NOW Streaming Devices
- Roku streaming devices
- Samsung TVs (running Tizen OS 2.4 and later)
- Sky Glass
- Sky Stream
- Virgin V6
- Virgin TV360
- Virgin Media Stream
- YouView (BT & TalkTalk) (first-generation YouView boxes are not supported)
- YouView Sony TVs
- Nvidia Shield
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series S
- Xbox Series X
With this being a brand new version of the app, please remember that last-minute changes may occur – with devices being added, or removed from this list.
What About ITVX On Sky Q?
The full version of ITV Hub was never available on Sky Q. ITV was aiming to make ITVX available on Sky Q at launch, it looks like there’s been a delay.
However, even though ITVX isn’t available on Sky Q yet – we understand there are certainly plans to make it available there shortly – the only question is when, exactly.
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