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Message 1 of 5

Freely announced as the successor to Freeview and Freesat - launches 2024

Posting for information and general discussion as it was announced today by Everyone TV (BBC, itv, Channel 4 and 5), that "Freely" will be the IP streaming successor to Freeview.

There are numerous articles if you want to Google, but if not: BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 announce “Freely” streaming TV service 

Britain’s biggest broadcasters have confirmed the development of a new free TV service that will deliver live TV over broadband.

Viewers will be able to browse and watch live TV channels, plus on-demand content, delivered straight to their smart TV via the internet. The service, to be known as Freely, will be managed by Everyone TV, the organisation behind Freeview and Freesat, and owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5.

The new service will provide millions of broadband-only homes with easy access to a single consistent experience for live free TV over IP. 4 million homes (about 15% of all homes) are now IP-only, according to latest figures.

The question of course will be, does BT/EE embrace this new entrant (could it's multicast platform be ideal for delivering this robustly on mass?), or could this be the final straw for their TV offering in an already crowded market?

Overnight, the benefit of getting Freeview channels delivered via BT/EE, disappears (apart from recording).

Official press release: https://www.everyonetv.co.uk/news/press-release/new-free-tv-service-via-ip 

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Message 2 of 5

Re: Freely announced as the successor to Freeview and Freesat - launches 2024

We've known about this (and been involved in the discussions) for a long time. Never fear, it's all been factored into our plans.
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Message 3 of 5

Re: Freely announced as the successor to Freeview and Freesat - launches 2024

The service will launch in 2024, but will require a next-generation smart TV.

So what about the millions of existing non-next-generation TVs? I assume that the existing Freeview/Freesat systems will become obselete.

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Message 4 of 5

Re: Freely announced as the successor to Freeview and Freesat - launches 2024

Freeview is expected to continue for at least another 7 years - probably longer than most TVs nowadays. There will be solutions offered before it's shut down - in the same way devices became available for when analogue was switched off in 2012.
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Message 5 of 5

Re: Freely announced as the successor to Freeview and Freesat - launches 2024

There was an interesting timeline article that RETRA hosted on its website earlier this year

https://retra.co.uk/news/timeline-of-changes-to-freeview-and-satellite-tv