[WillPS]

Hate to be a naysayer but my gut reading all this is it's too little too late. There was a market need for a 'Freeview over IP' 10 years ago, which arguably TVPlayer briefly filled in.

People missed TVPlayer when it went and you'd still hear moans about it - maybe up to the pandemic, but honestly we're at the point now where people are used to 'starting their journey' from a screen filled with app options, and navigating around to find the content they want; even linear TV ala Pluto and Channelbox. Less and less time is spent on that 'built in' EPG and I don't know that people miss it.

I struggle to see people rushing out to upgrade their sets to something Freely compatible unless they're in that vanishingly small proportion of the population who don't have access to a decent aerial/satellite connection - and also really want a single EPG.

YouView and Freeview Play have largely failed to capture the public attention in the way they were supposed to - OK both have a significant userbase but I would imagine in most cases that's because that's what they were given (by BT mostly in the case of YouView, and by their TV which they chose for other reasons in the case of Freeview Play). I can see this going the same way.

Finally, if the intention is to enable an eventual terrestrial or even broadcast wind down/switch off, I really question the decision not to launch with an STB or seemingly allow STB manufacturers to get involved. If this is going to be a relative market success then it'll take years before a significant number of TV manufacturers get on board with it... I just don't think a significant enough userbase will ever be viable. Perhaps that's by design and the intention is to protect Freeview/DTT as long as possible.