Amazon announces Fire TV shake-up

Selected Amazon Fire TV models will soon offer Freely

A 'breakthrough deal' has resulted in Amazon giving customers access to a UK streaming platform which claims to show free content from 'all the big channels'. Selected Amazon Fire TV models will soon carry the Freely service, which is backed by BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

Primed as Freeview's eventual successor, the project has been building up its base of channels since it was unleashed earlier this year. Freely has already been adopted by Toshiba and Panasonic, with the tech embedded in TVs providing access to channels and on-demand content via Wi-Fi, The Sun reports.

However Amazon has now joined the ranks, and Freely will be available later this autumn on Amazon Fire TV smart TVs including Fire TV 2-Series, 4-Series and Omni Series, plus smart TVs with Fire TV built-in. However it won't include portable Fire TV devices like the Fire Stick.

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Emma Gilmartin, director of Fire TV Europe at Amazon, said: “We're thrilled to be bringing Freely to Fire TV customers in the UK. This new deal for Freely allows us to provide even more value to our customers by giving them easy access to the best free TV shows, films and live channels from UK broadcasters, alongside the great content they already enjoy on Fire TV."

Jonathan Thompson, CEO at Everyone TV, which runs Freely, said: “It’s exciting to see the momentum behind Freely building so rapidly as we announce this breakthrough deal with Amazon Fire TV.

"A deal of this kind, between a technology giant and those working in the public interest, is remarkable. It represents a significant development in widening the availability of Freely and therefore ensuring UK audiences can access free TV well into the future."