A BRAND new box filled with hundreds of free TV channels and on-demand movies has launched as an eventual successor to Freeview.
British firm Manhattan TV is the second company to release a standalone Freely device, which beams channels into living rooms using Wi-Fi instead of an aerial.
Freely is run by the same company that operates the much-loved Freeview, Everyone TV, itself owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5.
The benefits of Freely compared to Freeview is that you don’t have to rely on an aerial, which can sometimes succumb to patchy signal – it means you can finally place your TV anywhere in the room without being bound by TV ports or cables too.
Freeview is delivered via a technology known as Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) which has a limited amount of space for channels – whereas Freely is all online so it can host hundreds and even thousands of channels.
Freely was launched in April 2024 but only built into brand new TVs on sale.
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Then last year plans were announced for standalone Freely boxes so people can plug in and enjoy the service from their existing TV.
The first to market was Pleio, which also came with a streaming gaming service and a games controller, starting at a promotional price of £99 and is now £119.88 (though you can get it as part of a broadband bundle with selected providers).
Now, another big name has entered the race, Manhattan TV, which has long made high quality Freeview boxes with recording capabilities.
The company’s first Freely box is the Manhattan Aero 4K TV.
You get all the main channels and access to their respective streaming services as standard.
Aero runs on the TiVo operating system for access to other premium apps, such as Netflix and Disney+.
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But there’s also more than 400 other streamed channels available for free, as well as extra movies and shows on-demand for nothing.
Aero supports 4K picture quality and voice search, so you can easily find what you want to watch.
The price is also competitive at £69.99.
It’ll be available in Currys, John Lewis, Amazon and more from February.
“Freely is a brilliant new platform that delivers Great British Telly over broadband with no monthly bills – but there are millions of TVs out there that don’t have it built in,” said Alex Arbab-Zadeh, COO for Manhattan.
“Aero fixes that. Just connect to Wi-Fi and you’ve got live TV, catch-up and all your favourite streaming apps – a simple, affordable way to upgrade any TV without having to replace it.”
