Freely, the recently launched streamed TV platform available on a handful of dedicated TVs, is seeking to portray itself as bigger than the US-owned streaming services which compete with its broadcaster shareholders.
The service currently offers a selection of subscription-free channels from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 with channels from UKTV, the commercial broadcaster wholly owned by the BBC, being added later this month.
Even after the addition of UKTV, the line-up of streamed channels will be smaller than those offered on Freeview and Freesat which the broadcasters also own.
Although users can plug an aerial into their TV to receive additional channels from Freeview, this undermines the service’s core selling point of needing “No dish, no box, no need for an aerial.”
In addition to the linear channels, Freely provides a universal search engine which can find and bookmark content from each of the broadcaster’s separate catch-up apps: iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and My5.
In a new push for the service, Freely says this gives “viewers access to 70,000 hours of on demand content for free, more than any major SVOD in the UK including Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+.”
However, Freely is a platform rather than a single streaming app and when compared on a like for like basis offers access to fewer hours of content than the universal search facilities on major brand Smart TVs and streaming devices from Apple, Amazon and Roku which all cover a wider choice of apps.
In addition, the larger paid streaming services Freely is seeking to compare itself to routinely offer new commissions in 4K with either Dolby Vision or HDR10+ and with either full surround sound or Dolby Atmos.
In contrast, among the Freely partners, only the BBC offers 4K content in its app and none support the highest quality sound formats.
So far TVs supporting Freely are limited to new models from Hisense and Vestel.
The service is managed by Everyone TV, a company owned by the four broadcasters.
CEO Jonathan Thompson said: “Freely enables audiences to seamlessly browse and stream a vast library of high-quality content from the UK’s biggest broadcasters, all in one place, but with the added advantage that it’s the same trusted, relevant and reliable programming they have always known.
“The new platform brings together local, originated programming that champions UK talent and UK stories. It gives viewers access to the best of British TV, with shows that reflect our nation, driving the national conversation and broadening the common investment that all audiences have in our society.
“At its heart, Freely is about championing access to British content for British audiences. This has only been possible through a major collaboration between the UK’s main public service broadcasters, who are committed to securing the future of free TV in the streaming age.”