The developers behind Freely — the successor to Freeview that uses Wi-Fi to stream live terrestrial channels — have promised a bevy of new software updates over the coming year. It follows the release of GB News on Freely as well as the arrival of the My List feature, which is designed to make it easier to find your favourite shows in the first fortnight of the new year.
Discussing the new arrivals, Everyone TV, the team behind Freely, has teased that "many more exciting updates and features" will follow later this year. It has signalled that My List is just the "first step towards viewer personalisation," suggesting future updates may focus on creating an even more tailored viewing experience.
Accessed from the main menu, My List is a new carousel that promises easy access to your favourite television shows
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My List adds a new carousel to the main menu that collates new episodes of your favourite shows — letting you resume watching with a single click. The developers hope it'll save you time searching around to find the right streaming service for every series that you're currently watching.
At launch, the feature works with the 11 catch-up and streaming services built into Freely.
Sky Glass and Sky Stream sport a similar feature, known as Playlist, that lets viewers bring together television shows, documentaries, and films from the TV Guide as well as streamers like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+. The latest update added the ability to add actors and football teams to Playlist too — with new content added automatically and surfaced in the main menu and across mobile apps.
It's unclear exactly what the "step towards viewer personalisation with many more exciting updates and features to follow later this year" will entail for Freely.
Playlist brings together TV shows, documentaries, and films from the TV Guide, on-demand catalogue included with the Sky Entertainment bundle, and titles from Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, and others into a single list — that's automatically sorted into categories SKY TV PRESS OFFICE However, many of its paid-for competitors, including the latest devices from Sky TV, refreshed EE TV, and Fire TV Stick, to name just a few, include the ability to set-up different profiles for each member of the household. This enables people to watch the same series at different paces.
It opens the door for the software to recommend new shows and films based on viewing history too.
The tease about exciting developments on the way for Freely viewers comes just hours after Everyone TV was forced to issue a warning that turbulent weather could disrupt the service.
Those who connect a traditional aerial to their Freely TVs to add additional channels to the service not yet available to stream are likely to experience signal disruption due to high-pressure weather across the country.
The disruption started on January 15, and is expected to continue until Sunday January 19, 2025 at the earliest.
Freely has been built from the ground-up to delivery linear television over a broadband connection and seamlessly blend on-demand and catch-up services from the biggest free-to-air broadcasters EVERYONE TV PRESS OFFICE The issue is specifically affecting customers who receive their TV signal through an aerial connection, while those watching via Wi-Fi remain unaffected. High-pressure weather conditions are currently interfering with TV signals used by Freely for aerial-connected viewers.
Those who watch terrestrial television on Freeview will also be impacted.
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Freely has confirmed that streaming services accessed through internet connections remain fully operational during this period.
It's advised customers against attempting to retune during this period of disruption. If you're impacted by the bad weather, normal reception should resume once the high-pressure weather conditions subside.
