Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

UKTV joins BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & Channel 5 on Freely, the UK's new live and on demand streaming platform

16/09/2024

UKTV and Everyone TV - the organisation leading the evolution of free TV in the UK - have announced that the multi-award-winning broadcaster will bring its on demand service U to new streaming platform, Freely, this month, alongside streamed live channels U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W and U&YESTERDAY.

UKTV joins the public service broadcasters backing Freely, which is integrated into the next generation of smart TVs and offers viewers 96% of the nation's favourite shows. The new partnership brings a wide variety of high-quality titles to the platform including U Originals The Marlow Murder Club, Battle In The Box, Rosie Jones's Disability Comedy Extravaganza, Katherine Ryan: Parental Guidance, Bangers & Cash and Emma Willis: Delivering Babies.

Jonathan Newman, General Manager, Commercial, UKTV, said: We're delighted that our free streaming service U and portfolio of free-to-air channels, recently united under the U Masterbrand, are joining the Freely line-up. It further supports our audience-led strategy, ensuring our viewers can easily access UKTV's content in a digital world.

Freely, which launched in April 2024, enables British audiences to stream live channels and seamlessly browse on demand content from the nation's biggest broadcasters - BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 - all in one place, for free. Viewers can take advantage of innovative features on the new platform such as pause, restart and access to more episodes, without having to pay for the service. The new platform ensures all audiences continue to have easy access to an aggregated free TV experience, however they choose to connect.

Freely provides access to 70,000 hours of on demand content, more than that offered by any SVOD service in the UK, including Netflix, Disney and AppleTV . This vast catalogue of the best of British television exists alongside countless hours of streamed live TV that are also uniquely integrated into the service.

Latest data from Ampere Analysis shows that Freely has a significant library of on demand content for UK audiences to enjoy, allowing audiences to browse the UK's biggest hits includingThe Traitors, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!, Strictly Come Dancing, The Great British Bake Off, Happy Valley, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, and All Creatures Great and Small. Plus, household favourites including Doctor Who, Red Eye, Married at First Sight, and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Viewers can also binge British classics such as Gavin & Stacey, Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, Spooks and Last Tango in Halifax.

What's more, TV fans can look forward to all the latest new shows coming to Freely this autumn, including Alma's Not Normal, Wallace and Gromit, Mr Loverman, My Mum Your Dad, Playing Nice, Generation Z, Swiped: The School that Banned Mobile Phones, The Madame Blanc Mysteries, The Great Explorers with James May, and The Hardacres.

Jonathan Thompson, CEO, Everyone TV, 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."

Lottie Towler, Principal Analyst, Ampere Analysis, said: The results of this research indicate that Freelys extensive catalogue is highly competitive in size when compared with major streamers in the market. Additionally, it offers consumers a unified and simplified experience for accessing broadcaster content, which is increasingly important in a competitive and fragmented market.

Freely smart TVs are available in stores across the UK and online at retailers such as Currys, Argos, AO, Very & John Lewis.

Notes to Editors

The first iterations of Freely are now in market, on Bush, Hisense, Toshiba, and Panasonic 2024 smart TV models, with additional features and software updates being provided to users as the service develops.

Freely TVs can be placed anywhere in the home where there's a Wi-Fi connection, without the need for a dish or aerial.

Data provided by Ampere Analysis shows Freely has more hours of on demand content than AcornTV, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV , BFI Player, CuriosityStream, Discovery , Disney , Filmdoo, Filmzie, Freevee, GuideDoc, Hayu, Mubi, Netflix, NOW, Paramount , Plex, Pluto TV, Rakuten TV, RTE Player, Shudder, Tubi, Viaplay and Zee5.

Data based on number of hours of on demand content available across the listed services as of July 2024. Add-on services, TVOD and live sports content not included. Data set includes SVODs listed only, streaming devices are not included.

*96% of the UK's most watched shows: BARB (Feb 2024 - Jul 2024).

For press enquiries please contact:

yvette.dore@uktv.co.uk

press@everyonetv.co.uk

About Everyone TV

Everyone TV (formerly Digital UK) is a joint venture owned and supported by the UKs leading public service broadcasters - the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Leading the evolution of free TV into the streaming age, Everyone TV believes that great quality TV should be accessible to all, regardless of location or income. Through delivering compelling free TV services for audiences and advocating for the future of free TV, Everyone TV ensures the best content made fo
LINK: https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/newsroom/UKTV-joins-Freely...
See more stories from uktv

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

13/06/2026

Spectrum Reach Taps Anoki AI for Contextual Intelligence

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/06/2026

Google TV Launches Soccer Hub, New Voice Command Features

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

YES Network and Gotham Sports App to Air Seven Athletes Unlimited Softball League Games

YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...

12/06/2026

UFL to Feature FAST Innovation Suite at 2026 United Bowl

The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: PTZOptics and LayerJot to Demo AI-Driven Camera Control

PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: MultiDyne to Debut VF-9100 Fiber Transport Platform and Crescendo Audio Monitor

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...

12/06/2026

Eurovision Services Deploys Ateme Software-Based Frame-Rate Conversion

Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin, Simplestream, and Xperi Partner to Support OTT Services on TiVo OS

Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...

12/06/2026

Net Insight Deploys Nimbra 520 and Nimbra Edge for Multinational Corporate Live Production Workflow

Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...

12/06/2026

MLB Players Inc., Athletes First Announce Content Partnership

MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...

12/06/2026

G&D and VuWall Announce CommandKeyboard-Advanced for Network-Independent Control Room Operations

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...

12/06/2026

Philadelphia Union and Comcast Deploy Smart Technology at Subaru Park and WSFS Bank Sportsplex

Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...

12/06/2026

Elevation Worship Completes First Leg of 2026 Tour Using SSL Live Consoles and New UMD192 Interface

Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Transkoder and On-Set Dailies

AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Audinate To Exhibit With New AVIO Install Adapters and Iris Camera Control Platform

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...

12/06/2026

Pac-12 Appoints Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer

Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...

12/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Grass Valley Introduces AMPP Edge Live for Enterprise Production

Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...

12/06/2026

University of Texas's Brandon Rudy on a New Era of Live Sports Production in Austin

At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...

12/06/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBA Finals Game 3 Hits 28-Year High; Stanley Cup Final Is Best Since 2015 Through Four Games

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

12/06/2026

Chyron Releases PAINT 10.4 with Pro Football Data Integration and AI Player Cutout

Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...

12/06/2026

ESPN's MLB Productions Heat Up in June as Core Summer Schedule Gets Rolling

SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...

12/06/2026

Televisas IBC Team Delivers for Opening Mexico Match

For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...

12/06/2026

GearExpo UK: Home Studio Acoustics Talk

Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...

12/06/2026

Meris introduce the Ottobit X

Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...

12/06/2026

Sonora Cinematic release Movimento Strings Inflections

Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...

12/06/2026

Research: Mixed Picture for FIFA World Cup Broadcast Revenues

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Viant Launches Enhanced Publisher Solutions for CTV, Programmatic

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software

AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...

12/06/2026

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert

URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert Brie Clayton June 12, 2026 0 Comments Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...

12/06/2026

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services From Set to Screen

MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...

12/06/2026

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro

AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026 0 Comments The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin Partners with Simplestream and Xperi to Support...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...

12/06/2026

Jigsaw24 Signs Deal to Resell Leostream Remote Desktop Ac...

Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...

12/06/2026

Study: 2026 Election Cycle to Hit Record $11.6 Billion Ad Spend

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

NAB Elects Leadership at June Board of Directors Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

FCC Believes World Cup Communication Will Score Highly

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Broadcasters Back NO FAKES Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Scripps Unveils Coverage Plans For America's 250th Anniversary

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026 Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...

12/06/2026

NVIDIA Blackwell Leads on First Agentic AI Infrastructure Benchmark

AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...

12/06/2026

Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film

Back to All News Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film Entertainment 12 June 2026 GlobalArgentina Link copied to ...

12/06/2026

Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm in The East Palace', Premiering July 17

Back to All News Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...

12/06/2026

The Future of Studio Grading. Tokyo. 23 June 2026

With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm Restar Corporation Tokyo Register here John Daro is the ...

12/06/2026

New animated series The Grumpy Onion available in English and as Gaeilge on RT KIDSjr, RT2 and RT

Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...

12/06/2026

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...