Freesat launches new Freetime offering
Freesat’s new Freetime proposition will launch at the end of this month with a price tag of £279.
The Freesat service features its own backwards EPG that links to broadcaster’s catch-up TV services, recording and search functionality, as well as a ‘showcase’ recommendations section, which will feature six editorial picks from all channels including on-demand content.
Freetime, which has been developed using HTML5, will offer seven-day catch-up services from the BBC and ITV when it launches, with Channel 4’s 4oD and Five’s Demand 5 to follow before the end of the year.
The first Humax box to be launched with Freetime will be available from John Lewis, Currys and other retailers later this month. Three more boxes from other manufacturers will also follow.
The service will be updated in the future with additional features, including a companion app for smartphones and tablets with remote control capability.
Freesat is currently in talks with other TV, film and music providers about launching services on Freetime. Freesat is likely to target Sky customers with the product, as well as exising customers looking to upgrade.
The announcement, at an event in London this morning, comes just over a month since YouView launched at a higher price of £299.
Analysys Mason’s senior analyst Cesar Bachelet attended the launch earlier today and said: “In some respects Freesat is catching up with the functionality included within pay-TV services (also increasingly available through alternative FTA services such as YouView), in other respects pay-TV operators could learn from Freesat’s latest service – it elevates the satellite user experience, bringing it pretty much in line with functionality offered by pay-TV services, such as recording entire TV series straight from the EPG, offering on-demand content and providing a ‘showcase’ for selected content.
“Also, it offers an EPG integrating a backward and forward view of content, featuring on-demand catch-up TV content with linear programming (in many pay-TV services, on-demand content remains separate from linear programming); a clean interface, with clear signposting of content, the inclusion of a help and support section with ‘how to’ videos included on hard disk of DVR (to assist viewers with self-installation).
“It is an increasingly competitive TV market, in which boundaries between FTA and pay-TV services get blurred – so consumers now have a plethora of choice, and the user experience keeps improving.”
Freesat has sold 2.6 million devices to date, after launching four years ago – and it claims to have the highest number of satisfied customers at 90%.