FREEVIEW’S successor Freely will finally be made available as a Fire Stick-like dongle to plug into TVs with a mass of free channels.
Telly lovers have been begging for the technology to be packed into a plug-in gadget instead of having to buy a brand new TV.
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Freely, which launched last year, has only been available built into brand new TVs so far.
The advantages over the existing Freeview service is you don’t need an aerial to view some of the channels.
Instead, you can use broadband and Wi-Fi to beam live channels into your house.
Freely is run by Freeview’s owner Everyone TV, which itself is jointly owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5.
Read more about FIre Sticks
BBC Director-General Tim Davie hinted that the technology could be turned into a Fire Stick-style device earlier this year.
“We are considering a streaming media device,” he said in May.
Freely’s first “plug-in and stream” gadget will launch later this year, Everyone TV said.
TV platform maker Netgem is the first company signed up to produce a Freely-powered gadget.
The exact price hasn’t been shared yet but bosses said it’ll be “affordable”.
“Freely was created to make free TV work for everyone,” said Jonathan Thompson, CEO, Everyone TV.
RECENT CHANNEL ADDITIONS ON FREELY
- The Chase
- Saturday Night Every Night
- 4Reality
- 4Homes
- 4Life
- 5 GPs Behind Closed Doors
- 5 Bargain
- 5 The Yorkshire Vet
- 5 History
- 5 Crime
- Milkshake!
- 5 Police Interceptors
- 5 Cops
- 5 Trucking Hell
- 5 A&E
- 5 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly
Image credit: Everyone TV
“Expanding to ‘plug-in and stream’ devices is an important and natural next step to ensure even more homes can enjoy the full Freely experience without the need for a TV upgrade or paid subscription.
“In partnership with Netgem, we’re launching streaming devices to make it easier than ever for UK audiences to enjoy the nation’s favourite TV, for free, on the TV you already have.”
There are more than 40 live channels that can be streamed via Freely at the moment.
But the firm has promised more new and exclusive channels will launch this year.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BEFORE WE REPLACE FREEVIEW
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
DTT – digital terrestrial television – is the system used for Freeview broadcasts today.
About 18million homes still use it as their main way of watching TV.
Before we even begin to think about switching it off, we have to make sure no one is left behind.
So any internet-based alternative – Freely or otherwise – needs to be just as easy to install and use.
Then there’s the matter of broadband.
The UK needs to have reliable broadband everywhere so everyone has access.
Emphasis on reliable – no one wants buffering mid-way through a live football match.
So not only will broadband need to be pretty much everywhere it will need to be fast enough to handle demand all the time.
