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The next year could be a good time to ditch your current setup and switch to Freely.
Yes, the successor to Freeview has announced a major boost to its lineup of channels over the coming months – with more live channels and on-demand boxsets and blockbusters to stream than ever before.
Everyone TV – that's the same organisation that built Freeview and Freesat from the ground up – is backed by some of the biggest free-to-air broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and 5. It launched Freely back in April 2024, which lets you watch some of the most popular free-to-air channels in the UK via a Wi-Fi connection.
With no need for an aerial, you can position your Freely TV anywhere in the home – as long as it has a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps. For the first time, features that you'd associate with paid-for television services, like Sky Glass Gen 2 or Sky Stream, are baked into free-to-air solutions.
Add Freely to ANY television by upgrading to the Pleio box
French entertainment brand Netgem is the first brand to launch a plug-and-play box that brings Freely to any television. Connect via HDMI, and you'll be able to stream the most popular free-to-air channels, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, U, and of course, GB News. Freely arrives packed with several features previously only found on paid-for options like Sky Stream and EE TV
You can pause and restart a show once it has already started broadcasting, and following a free software update last summer, Freely lets you scroll backwards in time on the TV Guide to access on-demand shows from catch-up services like BBC iPlayer and ITVX.
And the selection of channels available on Freely will expand over the next 12 months. Everyone TV has signed deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and CNN that'll bring seven new channels to its streaming-only service in 2026. The move takes the platform's total offering to more than 70 live channels.
CNN Headlines has already appeared on Freely via Channel 305, bringing rolling news coverage of global stories across politics, business and sport. The channel is free and supported by adverts.
Check the latest deals on Freely TVs from Currys
Prices start from just £119 for the latest crop of Freely TV deals from Currys. You'll need to switch to a new Smart TV that's designed from the ground up to support the latest Freely features to watch over 70,000 hours of on-demand content and more than 55 live channels over Wi-Fi
Meanwhile, the six new channels from Warner Bros. Discovery are due to land in the coming weeks to kickstart the new year. If you have a Freely-compatible Smart TV or set-top box, you'll be able to watch That's Quest, Quest Red, Food Network, DMAX, Really, and TLC.
The standout of these for most viewers will likely be TLC. You might know it as a pay-TV channel on Sky, Virgin Media or BT, but that's all changing next month. TLC is making the jump to free-to-air television in January 2026 for the first time. You'll be able to watch it on Freeview, Freesat and Freely without paying a subscription.
The latest deal between Warner Bros. Discovery and Freely has brought CNN to the free-to-air platform, with an additional six new channels coming in early 2026 to enjoy
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Warner Bros. Discovery isn't just making the channel free, they're also investing in a batch of fresh content, too.
The revamped TLC will feature scripted comedies, including The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, and the new spin-off Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage. But here's what fans of British comedy will love: Mock the Week is coming back. The topical panel show finished its 21-year run on BBC Two back in 2022, but it's getting a new lease of life on TLC with what's being described as a "new-look" version.
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You'll also see Zero Stars, a travel series featuring comedians Roisin Conaty and Sara Pascoe exploring destinations with the worst reviews. These aren't obscure channels struggling for viewers. The six Warner Bros. Discovery channels are well-established names that most viewers already know from traditional telly.
All of these channels are already available on both Freeview and Freesat, but the deal with Freely means you'll soon be able to watch them through your broadband connection instead.
| EVERYONE TV PRESS OFFICE
| EVERYONE TV PRESS OFFICE
At launch, Freely was only available if you bought a brand-new television built from the ground up to access it. Compatible TVs came from household brands, like Hisense, Bush, Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC, Sharp, TCL, Amazon Fire TV, and METZ.
That created a barrier for many viewers who didn't fancy splashing out on a new set just to try the service.
The situation changed last month when the Pleio arrived. This standalone streaming box, manufactured by Netgem, costs £99 and connects to any television with an HDMI port. You simply plug it in and you've got Freely on your existing telly.
Clearly, this was a very popular solution as the set-top box sold-out within hours of launching, showing just how many people wanted aerial-free viewing without buying new hardware. With strong demand, other brands have already announced plans to launch Freely-equipped boxes to plug into any telly.
It comes as the BBC also revealed that it's looking into launching its own set-top box to make internet-powered terrestrial television simpler for viewers.