If you don’t pay to get Sky TV in your living room, you may well have a Freeview-enabled telly, in which case you’re in luck this week as the popular service has just added two brand new channels that are completely free to watch.
The new channels that anyone with Freeview can watch right now are Wedotv Movies, available on channel 98, and Cartoon Classic, now rolling out on channel 214.
“You will need to retune to update your TV and keep your channels and TV Guide up to date”, Freeview said in a brief blog post.
Wedotv Movies is a free streaming service available online but has now expanded onto Freeview to showcase its best film offerings round the clock. It is the first time the channel has been available on free-to-air TV, but has been previously included as part of some Virgin Media TV packages.
Current movies listed on the service’s website include the western My Name Is Nobody starring screen legend Henry Fonda, a selection of classic Charles Bronson films, supernatural thriller The Summoning starring Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp and All I See Is You starring Blake Lively.
There are many other classic Hollywood films to pick from, so head over to channel 98 now to see what’s available for free with Freeview.
Meanwhile, Freeview channel 214 now broadcasts Cartoon Classics, which will be showing the likes of Danger Mouse and The Smurfs.
However, Freeview channels differ in availability depending where you live. You can use Freeview’s online Channel Checker to see which services you should be able to pick up at your home address.
While some will be delivered solely via the aerial socket, others might require an internet connection.
This is partly why Freeview owner Everyone TV is pushing its online service Freely. Freely aims to replace Freeview by offering the same, free-to-air service but delivered via an internet connection rather than traditional TV aerial.
Freely is available built-in to several brands of TV, which is currently the only way to get the service, though Freely says standalone Freely boxes are coming soon. You can register your interest in purchasing one here.
Elsewhere, Freeview also noted a channel name change. Gem TV, the TV and online retail channel, is now called Gemporia. You can tune in on channel 45.
Though Freeview is still adding new channels such as the two added this week, Everyone TV is pushing more new channels to Freely. If you haven’t made the switch to Freely from Freeview, it could be a good way to bring your TV watching onto an internet connection without having to fork out vast monthly sums for other connected TV services from the likes of Sky and Virgin Media.