The Pleio Freely Box Twist: You Don’t Own It For A Year

The Netgem Pleio – the first standalone box that brings Freely streaming to any TV – has been flying off Amazon’s shelves since launching in November. But there’s something unusual about how you’re actually purchasing it.

When you hand over £99 for the Pleio, you might assume you’re buying a piece of hardware that immediately becomes yours, just like a Fire TV Stick or Roku.

You’re not. According to Netgem’s updated terms, what you’re buying is a 12-month subscription that includes hardware. The puck itself remains Netgem’s property for that entire first year.

This is quite unusual for consumer streaming hardware – though Netgem’s Managing Director tells Cord Busters it’s intentional, comparing it to how phone contracts work.

And here’s the important bit: the practical impact on most customers is small – but it does impose a few limitations.

• Update: In addition, the Pleio now costs more.

What Changed, And When

The Pleio (see my full review) is a tiny streaming puck that delivers live TV through your broadband instead of an aerial (Check Pleio stock on Amazon).

You get BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, and around 55 other channels through Freely – Everyone TV’s streaming platform that launched in April 2024 as a replacement for traditional Freeview.

Until the Pleio arrived, Freely was only available on brand new smart TVs. The Pleio changes that, bringing Freely to any TV with an HDMI port.

It also runs Android TV with full Google Play Store access, plus 250+ cloud games with a wireless gamepad included.

When the Pleio launched in November, the setup was straightforward: you bought the hardware for £99, got a 3-month trial of gaming and extra channels, and the box was yours from day one.

By early December, Netgem extended that trial from 3 months to 12 months – a significant improvement that made the £99 price tag easier to justify.

But somewhere between then and now, the legal structure also changed. The current terms on Amazon and Netgem’s website now explicitly frame the purchase as a subscription first, with the hardware included as part of that package.

The Amazon description now reads:

“You purchase a full year of PLEIO Extra subscription. This includes 12 months of unlimited access to 250+ Cloud Games and 150+ Extra TV Channels.

This bundle includes the 4K Streaming Puck and Wireless Gamepad required to run the service (both are yours to keep after the initial 12 month period). PLEIO Extra is an optional £9.99/month after 12 months.”

The formal terms state: “During the Initial Term, the CPE [customer premises equipment] is provided to you on a loan basis and remains the property of Netgem UK. Ownership of the CPE will automatically transfer to you only upon completion of the Initial Term.”

What This Actually Means For Customers

In practice, there’s only one real restriction: you can’t sell or gift the Pleio during those first 12 months.

When you first turn on the device, you create a Netgem account that gets locked to that specific puck.

Technically you could hand the hardware to someone else, but they’d be using your account – which isn’t ideal unless it’s a family member and you’re comfortable with that arrangement.

Everything else works exactly as you’d expect. You can return it to Amazon within their standard return window if you’re unhappy. The manufacturer’s warranty still applies if something goes wrong.

And after 12 months, the device becomes yours completely – whether or not you continue paying the optional £9.99 monthly subscription for gaming and extra channels.

Importantly, Freely itself remains free forever. The core channels, the EPG, catch-up services – all of that continues working without any subscription beyond the TV licence.

Why Did Netgem Do This?

According to Sylvain Thevenot, Managing Director of Netgem UK, this approach reflects the company’s roots in providing services to internet providers rather than selling direct to consumers.

“Our primary distribution model has always been to provide a service for ISPs; we have now applied this same approach to our retail customers,” Thevenot explained to Cord Busters.

“As a result, customers who purchase on Amazon now benefit from 12 months for free, rather than three months.”

He positions the model as similar to phone contracts, where consumers don’t pay full hardware prices upfront but instead pay for access and ongoing service.

“Pleio is a living service that evolves every month. If you buy a standard set-top box, the software and content are often frozen in time on the day of purchase.

“With the Pleio Subscription, the £99 fee covers a year of active, curated expansion – and we treat the device like a managed platform, with fresh content and updates.”

Netgem argues that retaining ownership for the first 12 months allows them to bundle over £100 worth of value – gaming, content, warranty, and ongoing updates – into that initial price point, with the assurance that customers are committed to the platform for a year.

“Blocking early resale is a way to protect that ecosystem,” Thevenot added. “We want to ensure that every active PLEIO user is a genuine subscriber getting the full experience (Support, Warranty, Updates), rather than someone buying a second-hand box with no service attached.

“After 12 months, the user automatically owns the box and they simply choose whether to renew the PLEIO subscription.”

This Isn’t Completely Unprecedented

Whilst unusual for streaming devices you buy outright, the approach isn’t entirely new in the UK TV market.

Sky Stream operates on a similar model – except Sky’s version is far more restrictive. With Sky Stream, the puck never becomes yours, even after years of subscription.

It remains Sky’s property indefinitely, must be returned when you cancel, and becomes completely non-functional without an active Sky subscription (even third-party apps stop working).

Sky changed to this model in February 2023, and customers now face non-return charges if they lose or damage the device. You’re essentially renting the hardware for as long as you subscribe.

The Pleio’s approach is more customer-friendly by comparison. After 12 months, the hardware is yours regardless of whether you continue the optional subscription.

Freely continues working, you can install whatever apps you want from the Google Play Store, and you’re free to sell it or give it away at that point.

It’s a middle ground between traditional “buy it outright” models and Sky’s perpetual rental approach.

Does This Actually Matter?

For the vast majority of Pleio buyers, this probably won’t affect them at all.

How many people buy a streaming device with the intention of reselling it within the first year? It’s not exactly a high-value item that people flip for profit.

And if you’re buying it to use yourself, the ownership transfer after 12 months means you end up in the same position you’d expect from any hardware purchase.

The warranty still protects you if something breaks. Returns work the same as any other Amazon purchase during the initial return window. And you’re not locked into ongoing payments after your free year expires – Freely keeps working whether you pay for the extras or not.

Where this might matter is if you buy the device, set it up with your own account, and then later decide you want to give it to someone else during that first year.

Since the Netgem account gets locked to the puck when you first turn it on, they’d be stuck using your account unless you’re comfortable with that (fine for a family member, less ideal otherwise).

But buying it as an unopened gift for someone else? That works perfectly fine – they’ll set it up with their own account when they first turn it on.

The scenarios where this genuinely causes problems are quite niche. While this ownership model is unusual, the practical impact is minimal for typical users.

That said, Freely is still a new service that some people are already approaching cautiously – it’s unfamiliar, there have been early teething problems, and asking people to trust streaming instead of aerials is a big ask for many households.

Adding an unusual ownership structure on top of that might feel like yet another complication or reason to hesitate, even if the practical impact is small.

So yes, this adds another layer of complexity to an already unfamiliar proposition. It’s worth understanding what you’re actually purchasing – but for anyone simply buying the Pleio to solve their aerial reception problems, the ownership technicalities probably won’t change whether it’s the right device for them.

• Get Pleio on Amazon

For more TV and streaming news, Subscribe to our free newsletter.