IS FREEVIEW DONE FOR? | The Future of UK Broadcasting

Over 20 years since its initial introduction, FREEVIEW has provided an essential service for millions of TV viewers across the UK! But broadcasting has changed rapidly in the last two decades, and with streaming and on-demand viewing becoming more popular than ever, does this leave Freeview with much of a future?

Join me as we discuss the possibilities, whether or not this is the END for Freeview, or perhaps a new chapter, and how it can evolve to survive in an ever-changing broadcasting landscape!

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[mckenzie]

The BBC has thousands of hours of classic TV that should be available to the people who actually bloody paid for it.

[SXMEBXDYEditz]

The end of freeview Would Definitely damage a lot of households in the uk due to the fact of the current cost of living crisis and a lot of people don’t have the money for sky or virgin or now.

[michaelmcdonald]

One of the latest trends I've noticed across the main channels has been to keep a show on air all year round (think Bargain Hunt or The Chase for example). They do it by mixing in new episodes with repeats, without announcing the fact on air. Presumably this saves a fair amount as they don't need to produce another show to fill the slot when a run comes to an end and not everyone will notice they're watching a repeat if a few years have passed since the previous airing. It's become much more obvious in the last few years with socially distanced pandemic era episodes mixed with pre and post pandemic ones.

[cloverHarry]

Freeview is very useful just for simple viewing, and also I am able to easily DVD record shows so it disappearing would definitely end most chances of recording. You also make a very valid point as those less savvy are able to use modern equipment.

[warrenpete]

I think Freeview will be around for sometime yet. BT has a lot of work to do to get acceptable bandwidth to every house in the UK so you can watch streaming without the dreadful buffering

[SleepExports]

I remember watching Blue Peter about year 2000 and they suggested the future would have something we now know as streaming but for all old archived TV. That hasn't happened for ALL old TV, but obviously has for new content.

[imrustyokay]

Considering that the next UK Government, which will probably take effect within the next two years, but no later than 25 January 2025, is likely to be Labour, I don't think they'll be too enthusiastic on what the Tories want to do with the BBC. While I am not too enthusiastic on more and more live tv being internet-based (more apps to steal your data with, wooo!), I'll begrudgingly accept it if it's still free to air, and most people are wired up for broadband internet.

[christy]

I’m 19 and would rather watch live linear TV over Netflix

[philby]

I fear they will add the licence Tax to something like council tax so you are given no choice if top pay it or not. I've always said that its unfair that you still need to pay the licence Tax if you only want to watch other channels that are supposed to be free. It should only apply to watching the BBC.

[CyberdevilM]

Freeview I think will continue to exist. There might be less channels, but I still believe there is a huge demand for it.

[weeblesdontwobble]

More than likely in the future Freeview will be turned into a streaming service rather than something that is received by a TV ariel

[BenMelling]

I think TV will start becoming more like Sky Glass and Stream with linear channels existing for people who don't want to watch anything specifically or for big TV moments like Doctor Who, with on demand content along side it. Moving TV to online only like Sky is doing will be a huge change, and they can get rid of the shopping channels, +1 channels, etc. since there wouldn't be a need.

[chucklefun]

Great video free view is good for older people that may not have Internet access.

[JohnnyD]

I think Freeview is in a good position where the cost of living is affecting a lot of us. Families have to cut down on the nice to haves of Sky and Virgin to make ends meet.

[BFalconUK]

Freeview is good for people when camping or while otherwise away from home, where downloads would be too costly. Remember that Freeview is actually cheap since it echoes Freesat. Similarly, the +1 channels are just the channel, so probably don't cost too much on the scale of things (when compared to the cost of new or premade content).

I think we may see a mixture of subscription and government-funded, the government might pay for a few radio stations and the BBC news service, for example, ut if people want the other, non-funded channels, they'll subscribe. We may well see a return to having the basic 2 BBC channels alongside various ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 channels, for as long as the advertising funding remains.

Myself, I opted out of paying the license since I was watching just a couple of shows a week and found that I could happily live without live TV completely, so I now do so. I'm quite happy without it and iPlayer.

[photopuppet]

I have a lot of nostalgia for terrestrial TV but I do see why it makes more sense to obsolete this method of television delivery and that the frequencies can be put to better multi-purpose use these days. Freeview, you will be missed!

[casperward-yyii]

The bbc is a subscription service, the difference from normal subscriptions is we have no choice

[tgheretford]

While we still have issues with the time delay on live streaming, most noticeable on live sport events, there will always be a requirement for live broadcasting. As I view this video, I am (coincidentally) setting up a USB DVB-T2 dongle to work with Linux and have also got DAB+ to work too. My worry is that the valuable higher MHz frequencies will be snapped up by the mobile phone companies for billions that the broadcasters simply can't compete with, satellite broadcasting will succumb to the Internet and we will have no free-to-air television or radio platforms.

[kokonbini]

In Ireland, we have an equivalent called Saorview, which is practically the same. No UK channels or spillover though, except for Sky News and Challenge (for some reason)

[sophie_drachen]

I think for the whole accessibility thing should be the main reason why it stays, some people (often of the older generation) usually aren't used to using streaming services (although my grandmother, she's 74, and likes watching shows on Netflix). Also, taking into consideration that there are still areas in the UK that have little to no internet access for streaming services to be useful, really remote places that are like no man's land, they rely on television as a lifeline of sorts.

Also, watching a streamed sports game like a rugby match or football really takes away from the live essence that you get from watching it in real time, usually there's about a two second delay when streaming it.