Chris

Its USP as I understood it was that it was supposed to put FAST (linear streaming) channels into the same EPG as the traditional broadcast channels, and that it would let you select and play as-broadcast stuff from all the main public service broadcasters even if you’re using an internet connection rather than an aerial to feed your Freely box or TV. We don’t have an aerial or a dish (or VM) and at present without Freely we have to go to each app separately to see what’s presently being broadcast. Freely should remove that requirement. But I can see why PVR functionality is a genie the broadcasters would rather put back in the lamp if they can, so I’m not surprised if any PVR functionality a Freely box ships with is restricted to what it receives via an aerial.

Prior to launch, the PSB channels were still refusing to relinquish the need to login in order to access anything they were delivering over IP rather than terrestrial broadcast. I don’t know if they eventually relented, but it’s likely that even if you want to access BBC1, ITV etc via a unified EPG, using only an internet connection, you won’t be able to do so without first setting everything up in your Freely device with individual user names and passwords for BBC, ITV, C4 and C5.