Hisense first brand to partner Freely TV streaming platform

New UK-centric streaming service Freely has announced its first smart TV partner, and it's Hisense.

The smart TV maker will include Freely on its sets from 2024, as part of a 5-year deal. The new service will offer UK households live linear TV channels as well as on demand content, delivered over broadband, effectively removing the need for a traditional aerial or dish.

Freely will provide an interactive TV guide on Hisense TVs, which will function much like a traditional programme EPG, giving viewers access to live streamed content, VoD, and offer some additional features still to be announced.

Hisense is a powerful launch partner for the service. It recently announced its global sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2024, and shipped the second largest volume of TVs in the world during the second quarter of 2023. The partnership will include Freely branding at retail, on packaging and on its TV remotes.

Deep Halder, Chief Commercial Officer, Everyone TV (formerly Digital UK) said: “We’re delighted that Hisense is partnering with us to bring Freely to market in the UK. Building on our long history of working together successfully, we are excited to be bringing the first free aggregated live and on demand TV experience to British viewers, built into Hisense’s next-gen Smart TVs. We look forward to announcing further partners ahead of launch to ensure Freely will be available on a wide range of TVs at differing price points, offering viewers the choice to future-proof their TV purchase.”

Expect a slew of additional partners to be announced in 2024, as well as confirmation of a service launch date.

Freely is a collaboration between Britain’s four leading broadcasters, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. Its mission is to deliver ‘the best live and on demand content from public service broadcasters and other free-to-air channels’ over broadband, free of charge, for the first time.

We’re promised that the guide will simplify content discovery, to help viewers discover new and popular shows.

Amy Rowcliffe, Marketing Director, Everyone TV, said: “We are excited to introduce the brand identity for our new TV proposition Freely. The name Freely represents the ability to watch for free but also the freedom to choose how and what you watch. We have a cheeky, modern, and expressive character, which we have dubbed ‘Freemoji', that brings the brand to life as the viewer's welcoming and inquisitive companion. Happy, sad, excited, scared, great free TV has the power to make us feel every emotion and we wanted a character to represent this.”

Freely is being positioned as a IP-delivered alternative to Freeview and Freesat, which are also both run by Everyone TV. Currently, the UK’s free-to-view TV platforms service over 17 million households.