[Former Member 2410]

I'm just not convinced about the approach, and instead relying _entirely_ on new TV sales. It's not inconceivable that major players like Samsung won't be interested in it at all as it'll compete with their own IP linear offering. My Philips Android TV is quite heavily integrated with Pluto TV (it appears like a third EPG alongside Freeview and 'Satellite'); what if Paramount simply offer more money to Philips and co to stick with Pluto TV and not do Freely?

I get a whiff of hubris with this whole endeavour.

To address your original point the reason OG Freeview was so successful was that it was so unprescriptive in terms of what the Freeview consortium required in order to gain Freeview accreditation - and of course there were plenty of boxes which weren't technically Freeview approved boxes which could be sold as Digital TV receivers, customers didn't really need to know the diff. Indeed for the first 18 months or so the most common way to access was on a slow old ONdigital box! IP changes that relationship dramatically because (we assume) the only way to access the linear IP services will be by Everyone TV letting you in. I don't doubt there'll be some fun and games to be had with this for the determined but there won't be 'IP TV converter boxes' sat on the shelves in Tesco/Aldi ready for people to pick up and shove in their trolleys on a whim. That was how Freeview (the platform) got in the public conscience, whether the boxes said Freeview or not.

Agreed, but we don't know there won't be boxes, dongles etc. in the future. A partnership with one TV manufacturer is a start. There will be more, especially if Everyone TV make it easy to integrate, which they will as it's in their own best interests. Also, the Government will want a direct replacement for Freeview, including PSB prominence.

RXTV states that Freely TV's will also be able to get channels via the aerial, therefore being more like Freeview Play or a hybrid model. I'm not 100% sure that's right, but I am not being dogmatic and I'm quite happy to be proven wrong.

My thoughts are that it will eventually be built into most / all TV's in exactly the same way as Freeview is now. Not saying every manufacturer will do that, and some make seek deal with, for example, Pluto TV, but I can't see the majority of the public buying those TV's if they can't easily get BBC, ITV, C4, C5 and their associated services.