Freely - will this impact Glass and Sky Stream

[Jason+Golding]

@Exiled-in-HH LG channels are not included within the Freeview EPG. 

[Exiled-in-HH]

@Jason+Golding l made such claim!

The Freeview EPG is an it includes IP channels on the Freeview EPG - unlike Samsung and Sony who do not support the Freeview EPG.

[Jason+Golding]

@Exiled-in-HH You didn't - I am merely pointing out to the community here that LG channels (IP) are not integrated within Freeview EPG 

[stereohaven]

Freely is just the next evolution of the PSBs trying to ensure their content is available in homes that are "broadband only" (i.e. do not have a terrestrial aerial or satellite dish), at 15% of homes and growing according to their own research.

Plus starting the journey towards the inevitable switch off of terrestrial and satellite broadcasting.

Sky (like other pay platforms), will have known about this for some time I suspect. Freeview being delivered over IP has been in the works for years, with IP fallback already in the current Freeview Play spec. 

What this announcement really is, is the start of the end of Freeview and Freesat PVRs, much like Stream and Glass is the end of Sky+ and Q. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@stereohaven wrote:

What this announcement really is, is the start of the end of Freeview and Freesat PVRs, much like Stream and Glass is the end of Sky+ and Q. 

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Absolutely, and the common factor is that all of those historic platforms are really expensive to keep going because they have a substantial transmission hardware component to be operated and maintained.  Transitioning to online-only isn't 'free' for providers but it does transfer a substantial proportion of the carriage cost onto  broadband subscribers themselves.

[Jason+Golding]

@TimmyBGood at an educated guess - sky moving to completely IPTV would shave 20 to 30 percent off their operating costs. Satellite delivery, uplink, satellite installers, increased customer services, hardware costs. Massive via satellite 📡  For me, I hope that sky move to 100 percent IPTV delivery  by 2028 at the latest 

[Anonymous]

Can you get Sky and TNT Sports on this Freely platform? If so how please?

[Mister_Dalek]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Can you get Sky and TNT Sports on this Freely platform? If so how please?

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No. The clue is in the name. Freely. Sky and TNT Sports are subscription based services. 

Although technically, as Freely is only currently available on some smart TVs, if that smart TV had an app store with the NOW and TNT Sport apps available to download, then you could have all three services on the one TV without any additional hardware or software required. 

[Anonymous]

Yes I understand Freely.

But I wondered (and you've answered so thankyou) if a TV had the apps to also watch sports on one device.

Thanks again.

[Mister_Dalek]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes I understand Freely.

But I wondered (and you've answered so thankyou) if a TV had the apps to also watch sports on one device.

Thanks again.

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Yes, I'm sure some of the new Panasonic OLEDs which are running FireTV OS have Freely installed, and both NOW and TNT Sport can be downloaded free from the FireTV store. You could then subscribe to either or both services separately. 

[Anonymous]

Yes indeed.

But I wonder what's cheaper, going via Now TV or sticking with Sky Glass..

[Mister_Dalek]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yes indeed.

But I wonder what's cheaper, going via Now TV or sticking with Sky Glass..

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Well it's dependent on what you pay at the moment. To give you some idea I currently pay £3.99pm for Entertainment with NOW plus £4pm for Ultra Boost (Ad-free, UHD & Atmos) on a 6 month contract. If I wanted TNT Sport (I don't) I could get it for £20pm as a perk from my EE SIM-only mobile contract. The beauty of the streaming age is that there are options. Sky Stream and Sky Glass are excellent choices for some, but other options are available for those that want it. A Sky forum really isn't the place to be discussing them though.