Freeview offers streaming option for dish and aerial-free homes

Monday, 10 December 2018

Freeview has taken the wraps off a $139 streaming media player that is designed to provide an easy way for people way to watch live free-to-air television and paid internet-television services such as Netflix, Lightbox and Spark Sport, in up to '4K' resolution.

The palm-sized device, made by partner Dish TV, is the first Freeview device to let people stream live free-to-air channels to a television over broadband, doing away with the need for a satellite dish or UHF aerial.

The player comes with apps for Netflix, Lightbox, Stuff Pix and You Tube.

Freeview chief executive Jason Foden strongly hinted it would also provide a gateway for Spark Sport, which is due to launch as a rival to Sky Sport early next year.

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'It is capable of having Spark Sport on it and we will be making announcements about future services very soon,' he said.

Freeview offers live channels at the push of a button over broadband, without the need for a satellite dish or UHF aerial.

People would need to pay the subscriptions for any paid services, such as Netflix or Spark Sport, independently.

The media player is magnetic so it can be stuck on the back of a television, and comes with a Bluetooth remote control that lets viewers call up either Freeview or Netflix' programmes with a push of a button.

Foden said about 10 per cent of homes did not have a satellite dish or television aerial, and that was becoming increasingly common with the construction of new apartments that were instead only connected to ultrafast broadband.

The Smart VU X media player is designed to provide an easy way to watch Netflix, Lightbox and Spark Sport, as well as free-to-air channels.

'It feels just as easy as watching broadcast TV. The only difference is that with the Freeview streaming device, the broadcast is delivered over the internet, rather than over the air.

'With the Freeview button you are one-stop away from sparking up live TV and you are not tying up your computer or your phone.'

Support for Freeview On Demand will be added next year.

Freeview also announced the availability of a new set-top box made by Dish TV that it had originally hoped would go on sale last April.

The $439 'New Freeview Recorder' has multiple UHF and satellite tuners, meaning it will work where either service is available, and includes a one terabyte hard disk able to record up to 500 hours of programming.