Everyone TV: ‘Trailblazing’ Freely will position UK broadcasters for IP-only future

Carl Pfeiffer and Sarah Milton at Outside the Box

The UK’s “trailblazing” new free-to-view hybrid IP and broadcast platform Freely is “one of very few HbbTV OpApps running at this kind of scale anywhere in the world” that positions UK broadcasters to transition to an all-IP future according to the platform’s parent Everyone TV’s co-chief product officer, Carl Pfeiffer.

Introducing the new hybrid IP-broadcast platform for the UK alongside fellow co-CPO Sarah Milton at the Outside the Box 2024 event in London this morning, Pfeiffer said that the new platform would enable a seamless experience combining broadcast and IP-delivery.

Milton said that Freely came out of UK broadcasters imagining what broadcasting would look like in a post-broadcasting world.

The conclusion, she said, is that a platform must offer a combination of IP-based and digital-terrestrial broadcasters, seamlessly connected. The result is based on the HbbTV OpApp specification that enables broadcasters and video service providers to deliver a set-top-like user experience on smart TVs without the need for a set-top.

The pair highlighted three features of the Freely user interface that they said highlighted the way that Freely “marks an evolutionary leap for free TV,” in Pfeiffer’s words.

During an event that was otherwise plagued – ironically given the subject matter – by audiovisual technical glitches, they were able to showcase the Freely MiniGuide, Browse functionality and TV Guide.

The MiniGuide is a pop-up interface that appears each time users switch channels, creating what Everyone TV says will be a seamless browsing experience and enabling viewers to easily discover related live or on demand content. Audiences can also take advantage of features such as restart, pause and access to more episodes from live TV.

Browse enables viewers to press the Freely button on their remote to explore recommended live and on demand programming from Britain’s broadcasters and free-to-air channels.

Meanwhile the Freely TV Guide takes the form of a familiar seven-day guide that Everyone TV says will deliver consistency across all Freely TVs and one-touch access via the ‘Guide’ button on the remote. Audiences can also discover more episodes and on demand content linked to the live TV shows they are watching.

Pfeiffer and Milton said that there is “lots of potential here for future enhancements such as personalised recommendations and aggregating all the watch next actions and the services that our viewers use”, adding that “we’ll be exploring all of these and more while insuring Freely remains a seamless experience that works for everyone”.

Everyone TV has partnered with TV manufacturer Hisense to launch Freely, which is ultimately intended as a successor platform to Freeview, Freeview Play and FreeSat for the UK.

The outfit has also named Vestel, the manufacturer behind the Toshiba, Bush, and JVC brands, as an additional smart TV partner in a five-year deal.