Freely, the free streaming service launched by the UK’s public service broadcasters (PSBs), today announced the launch of ‘Spotlight Channels’, a new initiative which will allow the service’s CTV operating system partners to embed their free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels in Freely’s live interface.
Freely launched in the UK just under two years ago, making content from across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5’s streaming service available within one app. Its flagship feature is its ‘Freely TV Guide’ live TV tab, which makes IP-delivered streams of broadcasters’ linear channels available in a unified interface, akin to what audiences are used to via traditional linear TV. Since launch, channels from a number of other distributors, and some of the broadcasters’ own FAST channels, have been added to this feature.
Now, with Spotlight Channels, CTV operating systems which carry Freely will be able to sign up to add up to eleven of their own FAST channels into the Freely TV Guide. Channel numbers 31 and 90-99 have been reserved as Spotlight Channels. V, formerly VIDAA, is signed up as a launch partner — a number of its channels will be available in the Freely TV Guide on Hisense TVs (which are powered by the VIDAA OS) later this year.
Freely says the new product will give CTV OS partners another means of monetising viewing through advertising, while also enabling them to promote FAST channels which they distribute elsewhere.
“As Freely continues to scale, we are focused on building a platform that delivers long-term value across the whole ecosystem,” said Deep Halder, chief commercial officer at Everyone TV, the joint venture which runs Freely. “Enabling CTV OS partner participation in defined parts of the TV guide allows us to deliver unprecedented value to our CTV OS partners in new ways, while staying true to our commitment to UK audiences to ensure free, trusted TV remains easy to discover in the streaming age.”
A sales pitch to OS holdouts?
As the TV industry prepares for a future in which traditional broadcast is shut off and all TV is IP-delivered, Freely represents an effort from the UK’s PSBs to ensure they remain in control of the linear viewing experience. But that in some ways puts it at odds with CTV OS owners, whose own FAST channel apps seek to meet audience demand for free, ad-supported viewing in a format similar to what they’re used to from traditional TV. Both want to act as the primary port of call for linear viewing in an IP-delivered future.
In the short term, the CTV operating systems have a strong hand, since Freely needs to agree partnerships with them in order to secure distribution on smart TVs. Even once Freely secures distribution, the OSs get to determine how prominent Freely appears within their platforms, in relation to their own FAST offerings.
However, UK media regulator Ofcom is taking action to ensure that the UK’s PSBs remain prominent and easily accessible via smart TV home screens. As and when we reach a point where all TV is IP-delivered and the broadcast EPG (electronic programme guide) as we know it disappears, it wouldn’t be surprising if CTV operating systems were obligated to give Freely prominence, or else ensure that the PSBs’ linear channels are featured top of whatever FAST interface is set as the default.
For now, however, Freely remains unavailable on a number of the UK’s most-used CTV platforms, including those of Samsung and LG. The launch of Spotlight Channels, which should create more of a symbiotic relationship between Freely and its CTV OS partners’ own FAST apps, might help convince some of the holdouts.
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