Free U.K. TV streaming service Freely, which is widely considered to be the successor to the hugely popular Freeview service, has celebrated its one-year anniversary with the launch of 16 new channels from ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Created by the team behind Freeview and Freesat, Freely is backed by all four of the U.K.’s major domestic broadcasters, providing a way for anyone in the country to stream free-to-air television directly to their home.
The service is akin to Netflix and other video streaming providers in that all of its content is delivered over WiFi rather than through a traditional aerial or a satellite dish, requiring a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps. The reliance on WiFi means Freely supports features not found on traditional broadcast services, such as the ability for viewers to pause, rewind and restart live TV shows.
With its new streamed channels announced this week, Freely now offers access to a total of 55 live channels, together with more than 70,000 hours of on-demand content. That means it offers more content than any other U.K.-based streaming service.
Freely said a number of the new streaming channels will be exclusive to its platform, so you won’t be able to access them anywhere else, while some of the others can be found on set-top boxes via services such as ITVX.
In particular, the three new streaming channels from Channel 4 – 4Reality, 4Homes and 4Life – can’t be watched anywhere else except Freely, for now at least. 4Reality showcases reality TV shows like Married at First Sight, while 4Homes is focused on home renovation, interior design and property-related programmes like Grand Designs. As for 4Life, its content will span travel, food and animals, with shows such as The Dog House.
ITV is pushing two new channels to Freely – The Chase and Saturday Night Every Night – which are already available on the ITVX service. However, the vast majority of the new channels come from Channel 5.
All told, Channel 5 is launching 11 new channels on Freely, and five of them will be exclusive to Freely. They include 5 GPs Behind Closed Doors, 5 The Yorkshire Vet, 5 History, 5 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, and Milkshake!.
The other six new channels include 5 Police Interceptors, 5 Cops, 5 A&E, 5 Bargain Loving Brits, 5 Crime and 5 Trucking Hell, which can also be found on the My5 streaming service.
If you don’t yet have Freely, bear in mind that it’s not a standard upgrade to the Freeview service found on most older TVs that were sold in the U.K. To get it, you’ll need to invest in a new television that comes with the service pre-installed, but fortunately there are already plenty to choose from.
Select TVs launched in the last year by brands including Hisense, TCL, Sharp, Panasonic, Bush, Toshiba and Metz support Freely, as well as some new Amazon Fire TV models. According to Freely itself, the cheapest Freely TVs start at around £230, rising to £1,599 for the most expensive models.
Sadly, Freely TV is not yet available on premium televisions sold by the likes of Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony and Philips. So if you want a high-end OLED TV that supports Freely, your only choices consist of Panasonic’s Z95A, Z93A, Z90A and Z85A models. Freely will also be available on Panasonic's 2025 models, including the upcoming Z95B OLED TV, when they launch later this year.
Freely has a comprehensive list of TVs that support its service right here.
