The new Freeview Play connected TV service will launch in October, Freeview and Digital UK have confirmed.
Panasonic televisions, effectively the 2015 line-up of Viera TVs, will be the first to introduce the service and in the lead-up to the launch existing compatible TVs will update automatically.
Freeview Play brings together catch-up TV from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, on-demand services and live television. If the proposition sounds familiar, then one could be excused for remembering the launch of YouView, also launched by the public service broadcasters before bringing on board the telcos who would make the service their own.
This time around the partners also include Freeview and Digital UK, the body that now represents the interests of the UK’s principal broadcasters. The technical platform has been built by Arqiva.
Guy North, Managing Director of Freeview, said: “We believe that Freeview Play is set to become the new normal way of watching TV. Viewers will be free to choose what they watch and when they watch it on their main set free from subscription.”
Freeview will also be unveiling a new TV advertising campaign to support the launch.
