Freely, the UK’s new free TV streaming service, has announced a deal with Amazon that’ll bring the service to the company’s Fire TV software this Autumn, and that means it’ll be available on Amazon’s own Fire TV sets as well as on other smart TVs that run Amazon’s system. That means everything from super-budget models up to elite OLEDs will be included.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that this doesn’t count for the Amazon Fire TV Stick add-on devices – only the TVs with built-in Fire TV skills.
If you’re not already familiar with Freely, it’s a kind of iPlayer for everything: a free service from the key UK broadcasters that’s free to use and that blurs the lines between live and on-demand viewing. It’s not a replacement for Freeview or Freesat, but an alternative option for those who prefer to get our TV over our broadband connections – a kind of Freeview for the Wi-Fi age.
Freely launched in April 2024 with the backing of leading UK broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5.
Which Amazon TVs are getting Freely?
Let’s start with Amazon’s models. There’s the Amazon 2-Series and 4-Series Fire TVs, plus the Amazon Fire TV Omni and the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, all of which will support the Freely app – and the latter of which we rate as being among the best TVs if you’re on a budget.
It’s also coming to TCL’s 2024 4K smart TVs with Fire TV (models 43PF650K, 50PF650K, 55PF650K and 65PF650K) and to Panasonic’s smart TVs with Fire OS. That latter deal means Freely will be coming to premium OLEDs, with the Panasonic Z95A offering Fire TV on a seriously elite TV set.
Freely will also become the main TV guide on Amazon Fire TV smart TVs, and on smart TVs running the Fire OS – this will integrate its streaming option alongside broadcast options, if you do connect it to an antenna.
In addition to Fire TV devices, Freely is also available on Hisense’s Vidaa TVs, Bush’s Tivo TVs and Panasonic’s Tivo TVs. Expect more deals in the near future: Freely’s creators Everyone TV say that they are “partnering with both manufacturers and OS providers” to bring the service to more TVs.
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