Freely

Freely is a strategic collaboration between the UK’s main public service broadcasters – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5.

Built into the next generation of smart TVs, Freely allows viewers to browse, discover and switch seamlessly between live and on-demand content for the first time.
From launch, features included pause and restart live TV, plus access to on-demand episodes directly from the live environment. Since launch, the platform has evolved, adding innovative and familiar features that audiences are asking for. This entry highlights some of these features that have been developed and included in the past 12 months.

Description

With streaming, and through the use of HbbTV and the operator app, comes more opportunity for creativity and innovation in product development.
Freely launched with exciting world-first features for free, such as Mini-Guide, alongside familiar features such as the 7-day forward live TV Guide and VOD-first Browse area.
At the core of the Freely proposition is an unrivalled content offering. The benefit to audiences is that this is the only place they can come to discover and stream content from all of the UK’s public service broadcasters and other free-to-air TV channels in one place, at no cost.

Since launch, the product continues to improve as teams work hard to ensure free and accessible TV can still be innovative, user-friendly and intuitive with premium features audiences may not expect from a free service.

New features include:
• My List: Save up to 50 favourite shows from across the entire FTA eco-system in one place
• Continue Watching and Never Miss: Highlights what you just watched, what is coming up next, on now and what you’ve just missed, alongside the biggest and best shows on-demand – right on the home page
• Backwards EPG: with close to half of all catch-up viewing taking place on the same day as live broadcast, this feature makes it easier for viewers to watch shows that have recently broadcast with a seven-day scroll back. This quickly enables users to start streaming or add to My List.

These new features continue to evolve introducing new ways to bring live content to the fore across the Freely interface, seamlessly bridging the gap between live and on demand, with less searching and switching between apps.

One of the reasons Freely was developed using the HbbTV core and OpApp specifications was to maximise compatibility, ensuring that Freely is easy to adopt for all manufacturers and OS providers. Freely audiences have a consistent experiences, no matter what TV they turn on they can enjoy all the functionality Freely has to offer.

Impact

The Freely UI is designed to be as seamless as possible, with positive viewer feedback in first year.
Using the owned operator app also means Everyone TV can be in control of the features it want to develop and implement. This means we can listen to audiences needs and introduce what many are asking for, this was the case with the Backwards EPG feature that was highly requested.

We’ve seen viewer behaviour within Freely that demonstrates it is working:
• Audiences are embracing Freely as a live experience. Over half of our IP-only audience are watching more live TV, and they watch more live TV than other IP-only platforms. We are directly driving more live, appointment-to-view thanks to the innovative features and easy-to-use and access environment for internet-only.
• Two-thirds of the Freely audience are connecting via IP-only with the remaining hybrid.
• Accelerated growth, with over half a million engaged weekly users reached by August 2025.

The overwhelmingly positive response from industry partners has shown the value that Freely delivers, we’ve partnered with over half of the UK TV market.

The consumer response has also been positive, illustrated by positive consumer reviews, feedback to Everyone TV’s contact centre and real-user data showing the rapid growth in use of the platform.

Freely is a huge step forward for content discovery and presentation for UK audiences and will continue to evolve its functionality as it work to secure free TV for the streaming age.