Freely is to gain another 10 online channels over the next year. It follows the launch of three online channels from Channel 4 available exclusively through Freely. Additional online channels are expected to follow from ITV and 5. After more than a year since it launched, the Freely platform has about half a million users in the United Kingdom.
Five of the extra channels will come from AMC Networks, including AMC Reality and Love After Lock Up, joining Legend, True Crime, and Watch Free UK. Three of them will be through its joint venture with Paramount. They are True Crime UK, Evidence of Evil, and Bloodline Detectives.
The other channels are Bloomberg TV+, Blaze, Talking Pictures TV, Gemporia, and Local TV.
Jonathan Thompson, the chief executive of Everyone TV, the company responsible for Freely, said: “This latest round of content partners marks another step forward for Freely as we scale up the platform for viewers and partners alike.”
Freely currently offers over 50 channels available online. Whether these additional channels will be enough to attract viewers is unclear.
In September, Channel 4 launched three generic online channels on Freely: 4Reality, 4Homes, and 4Life, respectively offering reality, property, and lifestyle programming.
The platform announced that it had over 500,000 weekly users in September, more than a year after it launched. Given that there are about 27.5 million television households in the country, it represents less than 2% of homes using the platform.
Freely is advertising on television, in partnership with its shareholders the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. The 30-second television spot mainly features clips of programmes from the broadcasters, all of which are available on other platforms, rather than any unique selling proposition for Freely.
Amazingly, Freely has not managed to acquire the freely.com domain name. Then again, it does not have the freeview.com or freesat.com domains either.