A new online-only Freely box has been launched by Manhattan. With a recommended retail priced of £69.99, it provides an inexpensive plugin option for any television with an HDMI connection. No aerial is required as the services are delivered online over a fixed or wireless connection.
Until now, Freely has only been available on certain new television models. Notably, market leaders Samsung and LG do not support Freely and may never do so.
The small Freely box will convert a television to use Freely through an HDMI input, bypassing any existing connected television user interface.
It works over the internet, so can be used in homes or rooms without a traditional television antenna connection. It just needs a power socket and a wired or wireless internet connection, with support for Wi-Fi 6..
The Freely platform, supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, now offers over 60 television channels, 35 of which are in high definition. It provides on demand services through the separate applications of the respective broadcasters.
You can pause live channels for up to 15 minutes, but they cannot be recorded, although programmes on some channels can be restarted from the beginning.
The £69.99 price point significantly undercuts the cost of a similar PLEIO box from Netgem, which was launched at £99 but has varied in price from anything up to £130 since.
It still costs more than inexpensive streaming sticks that can also be used to upgrade existing televisions, but which do not generally support broadcast channels.
Devices like this will be important if Freely is to be widely adopted by the millions of homes in the United Kingdom that are currently dependent on Freeview digital terrestrial television.
The Manhattan Aero uses the TiVo OS, which includes TiVo+ with access to 400 online channels, as well as apps from YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Prime, and others. It includes a remote control that supports voice interaction.
This could be a game changer for Freely, which reached a million weekly users over the Christmas period. That represents a market penetration of around 3-4% in the 18 months since it launched in May 2024.