Freely — the successor to Freeview, which launched last summer— is bringing 16 new channels from ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 to Smart TVs across the UK as part of its next major software update. It’s the next expansion of Freely’s TV Guide since the arrival of GB News earlier this year.
Built by the same team behind Freesat and Freeview, and backed by the UK’s biggest broadcasters, including BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, Freely is designed to bring modern streaming capabilities to free-to-air television. It beams content via Wi-Fi connection rather than traditional aerial, which means you can place your flatscreen TV anywhere in the room as long as it has a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps. Relying on Wi-Fi also enables a number of features typically associated with the Sky TV devices, like the ability to pause and restart live television shows.
With the addition of the new streamed channels, Freely will offer more than 55 live channels over Wi-Fi, alongside 70,000+ hours of on demand content — more than that provided by any streaming service in the UK. More channels could be added to the service in the coming months.
Exclusive streaming channels from Channel 4, Channel 5, and ITV will be coming to Freely TVs in the next software update
EVERYONE TV PRESS OFFICE
Some of these streamed channels will be exclusive to Freely, while others are accessible on set-top boxes with services like ITVX.
Channel 4’s new streaming-only channels won’t be available elsewhere. It’s bringing 4Reality, a new showcase of the best Channel 4 reality shows like Married at First Sight. Meanwhile, 4Homes provides non-stop access to Channel 4’s extensive line-up of homes content across renovation, interior design and new property spanning shows such as Grand Designs.
Freely viewers will also benefit from 11 of Channel 5’s recently launched live channels, including 5 Police Interceptors, 5 Cops and 5 A&E.
Five of the channels will be exclusively available on Freely and the 5 streaming service, such as 5 GPs Behind Closed Doors, 5 The Yorkshire Vet, 5 History, 5 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, and Milkshake!.
The complete lineup coming to Freely is as follows:
ITV
- The Chase
- Saturday Night Every Night
Channel 4
Channel 5
- 5 GPs Behind Closed Doors
- 5 Bargain Loving Brits
- 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
Freely offers quick access to previously-aired episodes of a show, without the need to seek out and launch a specific app — like BBC iPlayer — from the main menu of the service
FREELY PRESS OFFICE | GBN
Discussing the new arrivals coming to Freely, Grace Boswood, Director of Technology & Distribution, Channel 4, said: “The launch of new streamed channels further accelerates our transformation into the streaming age and will help keep our trusted, brand safe content free for everyone. As the only place to access our new channels at launch, Freely continues to represent brilliant collaboration by public service media.”
ITV Director of Distribution, Akhila Khanna said: “At ITV we’re proud to be part of Freely and making these channels available to the Freely TV Guide reinforces our commitment to delivering fantastic, free content through this innovative platform and showcases our continued collaboration with other leading UK broadcasters.”
Channel 5’s Vice President of Distribution, Kiaran Saunders added: “We’re excited to bolster Freely’s offering with eleven new live channels, including five that will be exclusive to the platform and 5. Working alongside the other PSBs, we are committed to offering diverse, high-quality content that’s free and accessible to everyone.”
Freely isn’t a software update to your existing Freeview-enabled Smart TV or set-top box. Instead, you’ll need to upgrade to one of a swathe of new Smart TVs built from the ground-up to support Freely.
Hisense was the first brand to add support for Freely across its 2024 lineup of TVs, with the likes of Bush, Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic, and Metz also switching from Freeview to Freely as the default way to watch free-to-air channels on their newest flatscreens.
Freeview successor Freely is also the default way to stream live television in select Amazon Fire TVs too.
Freely ditches the traditional TV aerial. Instead, the most popular free-to-air channels are streamed over a wireless or wired internet connection. This is similar to solutions like Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Virgin Media Stream, and the rebooted EE TV launched last year.
Relying on a broadband connection means you’ll be able to position your television anywhere in your house with a decent Wi-Fi signal — not where the aerial comes into the wall. Like the popular Sky+ box, which loses access to Sky TV channels in the coming months, Freely viewers will be able to pause and restart live television.
With Freely, the redesigned Mini Guide offers extra information on the programme you’re watching, a shortcut to additional episodes from catch-up services, and the ability to restart from the beginning with a single tap FREELY PRESS OFFICE | GBN
BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have ensured their catch-up services are deeply integrated into Freely so when you miss the start of a live broadcast you’ll be able to skip back to the beginning — with the show streamed behind-the-scenes from BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and others.
Entire boxsets will be presented in the menu, so you can catch-up on earlier series of a show before tuning into the next live episode. The arrival of Freely doesn’t mean Freeview is going anywhere for now, with Smart TV manufacturers turning to the new arrival to offer access to linear television… we’ll likely to see Freeview and Freesat fall out of favour in the coming months and years.
The industry-wide pivot is something campaigners have warned about, cautioning that millions could be left without access to live television channels.
Everyone TV says the arrival of Freely marks the first time all four of Britain’s public service broadcasters have come together to launch a streaming proposition and signals the beginning of “a journey to secure the future of free TV through collaboration.”
