One of the more affordable Google TV options in the UK has just gone under. Thomson streaming boxes were, until very recently, one of the popular answers for people asking what to buy instead of a Fire TV Stick – affordable, running full Android, and available on for around £59.
As of this week, they’re no longer an option – and for those who valued the ability to sideload apps, the options are getting thinner.
StreamView, the Austrian company behind Thomson-branded Google TV devices in Europe, has filed for bankruptcy – with €36.6 million in debt and no plans to continue operations.
Who Is StreamView, and What Did They Make?
The Thomson brand has a long history in European electronics, though the company behind it has changed hands many times.
StreamView licensed the Thomson name from a US company called Established Inc, and used it to sell a range of Google TV streaming devices across Europe since 2024. Before that, they sold Nokia-branded TV products.
Their headline product was the Thomson Streaming Box Plus 270 – essentially a rebadged version of the Walmart Onn 4K Pro, which is hugely popular in the US as a budget Google TV device.
At around £59, it was one of the cheapest ways to get a proper, open Android-based streaming experience in the UK.
They also made Thomson Go Cast dongles – plug-in devices shaped like the old Chromecast with Google TV – for those who preferred that form factor.
And they had been developing the Streaming Box 260 Pro, a more capable device with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage that was shaping up as a rival to Google’s own Google TV Streamer. That device now looks dead in the water.
StreamView blamed the collapse on the breakdown of its relationship with its main Chinese supplier and financing partner, with a potential rescue by an investor also falling through.
The timing is particularly jarring given that Established Inc had just renewed its Thomson brand licence with StreamView until 2040 – a matter of weeks before the bankruptcy filing.
What Happens If You Already Own a Thomson Device?
Your device will keep working. Google TV runs independently of StreamView, so your apps, streaming services, and Google’s own software updates aren’t going anywhere.
The concern is after-sales support. If something goes wrong with the hardware, StreamView won’t be there to help.
Established Inc has put out a statement saying it’s making every effort to ensure continuity of after-sales service while it looks for a new European partner.
The Thomson brand itself isn’t going away – Established will be looking to hand the licence to someone else – but that process will take time.
If you’re hoping to make a warranty claim, don’t hold your breath (at least for the time being).
Sideloading And The Fire TV Connection
To understand why StreamView’s collapse is more significant than just one small company going under, it’s worth revisiting what’s been happening with Amazon’s Fire TV.
For years, Fire TV Sticks ran Fire OS – Amazon’s own interface built on top of Android. That Android foundation meant sideloading was possible: installing apps from outside Amazon’s official store.
A lot of people used this for entirely legitimate reasons – apps not available in the UK, alternative media players, niche streaming services.
But sideloading was also the engine behind the “dodgy Firestick” – modified sticks loaded with illegal IPTV apps giving access to Premier League football and Sky Sports without paying for them.
Amazon has been under intense pressure to do something about it. And they have. As we covered recently, Amazon has now confirmed that all future Fire TV Sticks will run Vega OS, a completely new platform built on Linux rather than Android.
Vega OS doesn’t support sideloading at all. You can only install what’s in Amazon’s official store – full stop.
For people who used sideloading legitimately, this is a genuine loss. And the natural question has been: what do you move to instead? (Though it’s important to remember, sideloading will continue to work on the older Firesticks – it’s just the newer Vega ones where this won’t be an option).
Google TV – which runs on proper Android – was the obvious answer. It supports sideloading, has a large and well-supported app ecosystem, and devices running it are available at a range of prices.
Thomson’s lineup sat right at the affordable end of that market, and their devices were regularly recommended as a budget-friendly, open alternative to Fire TV.
That’s now one fewer option in a market that wasn’t exactly overflowing with choices to begin with.
It’s worth noting that Google itself is moving in a similar direction, if more slowly. As we reported in March, Google is introducing a 24-hour waiting period before users can install apps from unverified developers on Android.
It’s a long way from Amazon’s outright ban, and sideloading on Google TV devices isn’t going anywhere imminently – but the direction of travel across the industry seems to be clear.
The affordable Google TV space in the UK isn’t completely empty. There are plenty of no-name Chinese Android boxes available on Amazon and AliExpress, and some of them are perfectly functional.
But they come with question marks around long-term software support, security updates, and build quality that a named brand like Thomson – with a proper Google TV certification – didn’t have.
What Comes Next for the Thomson Brand?
Established Inc is actively looking for a new European partner to carry the Thomson brand forward. Whether that results in a similar lineup of affordable Google TV devices – and at similar prices – is anyone’s guess.
In the meantime, existing Thomson streamers will continue to work fine. They run Google TV, they’ll get updates, and the streaming apps you rely on will keep working.
The hardware itself isn’t going anywhere – it’s just the company behind it that has.
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