FREELY. Live TV over broadband 2024
Discussion
snuffy said:
I will give you an example;
When I was on ADSL, my speeds started get worse and worse. Zen arranged for Openreach to come out and check it all. If they found no faults with their end, I had to agree to pay £200 or so.
They came out, fiddled around in my house, then said they were going to do a lift-and-shift, so off they went. Hmm, I was monitoring my connection, no lift-and-shift occurred.
Then OR claimed "no fault found, £200 please".
Zen asked me for story of what they did, i pointed out about no lift-and-shift taking place. Then then checked their logs, they then confirmed said claim from BT was a massive lie. Then Zen instructed OR to have another go.
OR then did have another go, and fixed the issue, which was clearly their issue, so no more demand for £200.
My point being, that is what I call good customer service from my ISP. Almost all BB connections are from Openreach, not your ISP, and OR are piss-poor, so you need a ISP who will kick them up the arse.
I had the exact same issue, only I was with BT! Whatever BT/Openreach tell you I can assure you 100% that if you are with BT you get the best service from OR. Zen have been regarded as great for years, I won't dispute that. But I'm now with Plusnet (BT!) paying half of what BT charged. Problems to date : 0. In fact my last broadband problem was the one I referred to in this thread, that was in 2009.When I was on ADSL, my speeds started get worse and worse. Zen arranged for Openreach to come out and check it all. If they found no faults with their end, I had to agree to pay £200 or so.
They came out, fiddled around in my house, then said they were going to do a lift-and-shift, so off they went. Hmm, I was monitoring my connection, no lift-and-shift occurred.
Then OR claimed "no fault found, £200 please".
Zen asked me for story of what they did, i pointed out about no lift-and-shift taking place. Then then checked their logs, they then confirmed said claim from BT was a massive lie. Then Zen instructed OR to have another go.
OR then did have another go, and fixed the issue, which was clearly their issue, so no more demand for £200.
My point being, that is what I call good customer service from my ISP. Almost all BB connections are from Openreach, not your ISP, and OR are piss-poor, so you need a ISP who will kick them up the arse.
Dave_V6 said:
I had the exact same issue, only I was with BT! Whatever BT/Openreach tell you I can assure you 100% that if you are with BT you get the best service from OR. Zen have been regarded as great for years, I won't dispute that. But I'm now with Plusnet (BT!) paying half of what BT charged. Problems to date : 0. In fact my last broadband problem was the one I referred to in this thread, that was in 2009.
Out of interest, I've just checked for myself:Zen : £56 (18 month contract, does not increase during the contract)
BT : £45 (24 month contract, increases in 12 months, does not say what do)
PlusNet : £42 (24 month contract, increases in 12 months, does not say what do)
That's for a 900/100 connection.
Mr Pointy said:
SpidersWeb said:
snuffy said:
SpidersWeb said:
Whereas my far cheaper connection has been absolutely fine forever, with no need to contact customer service.
You only find out when something breaks. If it does not break, you'll never know.Mr Pointy said:
But you know this, you're just being a prick.
Do grow up.The point is that they are paying a significant premium to receive a perceived better customer service in case something goes wrong, which is an event that very rarely occurs.
Would you pay a significant additional premium for a premium gas or electricity supplier if they were going to provide you with a better customer service in case something happened with your gas or electricity supply, an event which very rarely occurs - of course you wouldn't.
Seems really odd that they aren't launching with an app that will allow casting to existing smart tvs, Chromecast or Fire stick and also enable people to watch on the go. I watch a lot of free to air stuff via the respective apps, and have it consolidated in one place with a decent guide would be a good step forward.
blueST said:
Seems really odd that they aren't launching with an app that will allow casting to existing smart tvs, Chromecast or Fire stick and also enable people to watch on the go. I watch a lot of free to air stuff via the respective apps, and have it consolidated in one place with a decent guide would be a good step forward.
Yeah I think a missed opportunity, but I guess they got a chunk of money (or support) from HiSense for exclusivity. If not a stupid move.Ham_and_Jam said:
FREELY anyone?
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival. What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
SpidersWeb said:
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival.
What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
Is it a 5 year deal? Haven’t dug too deep, but if it is then I’ll sign off now…What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
Ham_and_Jam said:
SpidersWeb said:
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival.
What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
Is it a 5 year deal? Haven’t dug too deep, but if it is then I’ll sign off now…What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
"Freely will be built into the next generation of smart TVs, with Hisense announced as the first partner to offer Freely from 2024, in a long term 5-year deal"
Dead at birth.
SpidersWeb said:
Ham_and_Jam said:
FREELY anyone?
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival. What is that five year deal?
Is it Everyone TV, a company that is owned and supported by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, receiving money from Hisense for some exclusivity - and the mention of a five year deal not a six month deal would indicate something long term not a short period. If so then the idea is already dead because those buying Sony, Samsung, etc. tvs are excluded from this and that will kill it.
Why on earth haven't they simply launched this as an app that you can download onto any existing tv, streaming stick, or box.
Frankly they might as well write the obituary for it now - and that comes from someone who watches 95%+ of their tv as streamed viewing.
And to add: 100% of my viewing is streamed but I still have the ability to plug my aerial in to watch TV if my internet goes tits up
If I had to guess - the five years mean EverythingTV will use the HiSense "trial" to perfect the product, add features etc & by which time almost everybody will have access to faster internet access therefore making the end product more than viable.
I also doubt that it will be exclusive for 5 years, as we have yet to hear the full details. It could well be the case that license costs get sorted sooner & other manufacturers' TV's will have access to the Freely app much sooner than 5 years.
I'm also wondering about the future of stream-able 4K TV ?
I also doubt that it will be exclusive for 5 years, as we have yet to hear the full details. It could well be the case that license costs get sorted sooner & other manufacturers' TV's will have access to the Freely app much sooner than 5 years.
I'm also wondering about the future of stream-able 4K TV ?
SpidersWeb said:
Nice idea, but the fact that there is a five year deal with Hisense indicates that it is dead on arrival.
This, I am not exactly the sort of person who Buys What HiFi and spends hours calibrating their TV but even I wouldn't buy a Hisense TV.As for the Vestel Turkey TVs, these are the sort of rubbish you buy in Argos or the Supermarket that trade on long dead names that used to have some brand awareness. Think Toshiba, Hitachi, Polaroid, JVC, Bush, Alba, Panasonic, Sharp, Blaupunkt etc. These are made from the absolute worst quality components possible, I guarantee it will fail after two years due to some 10 pence capacitor.
I will pretty much only buy Samsung or LG so like the majority of people will never buy a TV with Freely built in.
Digger said:
If I had to guess - the five years mean EverythingTV will use the HiSense "trial" to perfect the product, add features etc & by which time almost everybody will have access to faster internet access therefore making the end product more than viable.
88% of the UK can already get at least 30 Mbit/s broadband so the product is viable now.If the idea of the product is to keep people with the UK broadcasters, then it isn't particularly smart to enter into a deal that keeps the vast majority of the public away from your product and in the hands of the commercial streamers for another five years.
TheInternet said:
There is no exclusivity deal with anybody and don't know why some of you have assumed there is.
There is.TheInternet said:
HiSense are the launch partner
And there it is - exclusivity with Hisense for a period of time, even if just a launch period.TheInternet said:
and Vestel (with their various rebranded TVs) will be not far behind.
Great, so it appears on the crap cheapo TVs as a feature to try to sell them.TheInternet said:
Given the market direction I'd be surprised not to see the majority follow suit.
Only if there is an actual demand from the public for it, and unless the broadcasters kill their existing streaming apps then I can't see a lot of people crying out for it.If they actually wanted people to take it up then they would have simply released it as an app available on all platforms now.
I think this could be the writing on the wall for Broadcast TV.
Personally, I almost never watch live TV, it's either catchup over broadand, or Freesat via a recorder.
It would be interesting to know how many people are still watching via Terrestrial Broadcast, and how many of those have no great reason for not watching via the interweb.
When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer? The cost of a minority channel being broadcast instead of just being on the web must be significant?
How does the cost of terrestrial broadcast compare with satellite?
Those honking great TV transmitters are not cheap things to run or replace.
Do we still need them?
How many of the minority who can't get internet TV use Sky or Freesat instead?
We're mildly rural and use Freesat because there's a hill between us and the DTTV transmitter.
What's the actual need for live TV?
Some people like the News, and fair enough, it's relevant to watch it 'live'.
A certain amount of 'sport'.
But drama and so forth, why watch simultaneously?
Maybe in 20 years time, there will only be a handful of live channels, which could be 'broadcast' from small local transmitters tacked on to cell sites?
We could have a telly with a mechanical button on the front for each channel you ever watch, press the top one for BBC One.
The 'AI' in the telly could then faff with the app for you....
As ever, it would be interesting to know what the way forward is seen to be in other countries.
A lot of younger people are already opting out of Broadcast TV.
There's plenty of stuff on the web which doesn't need a TV licence.
Personally, I almost never watch live TV, it's either catchup over broadand, or Freesat via a recorder.
It would be interesting to know how many people are still watching via Terrestrial Broadcast, and how many of those have no great reason for not watching via the interweb.
When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer? The cost of a minority channel being broadcast instead of just being on the web must be significant?
How does the cost of terrestrial broadcast compare with satellite?
Those honking great TV transmitters are not cheap things to run or replace.
Do we still need them?
How many of the minority who can't get internet TV use Sky or Freesat instead?
We're mildly rural and use Freesat because there's a hill between us and the DTTV transmitter.
What's the actual need for live TV?
Some people like the News, and fair enough, it's relevant to watch it 'live'.
A certain amount of 'sport'.
But drama and so forth, why watch simultaneously?
Maybe in 20 years time, there will only be a handful of live channels, which could be 'broadcast' from small local transmitters tacked on to cell sites?
We could have a telly with a mechanical button on the front for each channel you ever watch, press the top one for BBC One.
The 'AI' in the telly could then faff with the app for you....
As ever, it would be interesting to know what the way forward is seen to be in other countries.
A lot of younger people are already opting out of Broadcast TV.
There's plenty of stuff on the web which doesn't need a TV licence.
OutInTheShed said:
It would be interesting to know how many people are still watching via Terrestrial Broadcast, and how many of those have no great reason for not watching via the interweb.
When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer?
Huge numbers still make regular use of terrestrial, it's possibly the largest platform by audience numbers. And, depending on how you slice it, it stacks up well on power consumption/viewing hour (for the time being).When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer?
TheInternet said:
OutInTheShed said:
It would be interesting to know how many people are still watching via Terrestrial Broadcast, and how many of those have no great reason for not watching via the interweb.
When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer?
Huge numbers still make regular use of terrestrial, it's possibly the largest platform by audience numbers. And, depending on how you slice it, it stacks up well on power consumption/viewing hour (for the time being).When you divide that minority of people among the umpteen channels of dross, some of those channels are probably transmitting vast amounts of power per actual live viewer?
OutInTheShed said:
Maybe in 20 years time, there will only be a handful of live channels, which could be 'broadcast' from small local transmitters tacked on to cell sites?
There won't be a terrestrial TV network in 20 years time; Freely is one of the prerequisites to switching it off. OutInTheShed said:
It would be interesting to know how many people are still watching via Terrestrial Broadcast.
A surprisingly large number - www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/media-nations-20... - 79% of the population watched some traditional broadcast tv at least once a week, but not necessarily for very long.And although overall the average viewer watches just over 2 1/2 hours a day of traditional broadcast tv, for some groups the time spent viewing each day is pretty minimal with 16-24 year olds averaging only 39 minutes a day and 4-15 year olds at 41 minutes - so lots of elderly people watching Homes under the Hammer all day to push up the time to achieve the overall average.
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