Freely Live TV Platform Launches In UK; Inga Leschek Named RTL Deutschland Content Chief – Global Briefs

By Max Goldbart, Jesse Whittock

April 30, 2024 1:33am

Freely Launches In UK

The UK’s first free TV service that delivers live television over broadband has launched today. Freely, bringing together the four public broadcasters along with Scotland’s STV and Wales’ S4C and described as “futureproofing free TV for the streaming age”, kicks off with additional distribution from TiVo, along with the previously announced Hisense. Freely combines live TV channels alongside on demand content for free via smart TVs, removing the need for a dish or aerial. It is overseen by broadcasting group Everyone TV, which also runs Freeview, the free TV service that launched more than two decades ago. Freely was first announced last year and more details were revealed at Everyone TV’s Outside the Box event. “The launch of Freely is a historic moment for UK television,” said Kieran Clifton, Director, BBC Distribution & Business Development. “Collaboration between the UK PSBs is critical to connecting and protecting all audiences as we transition towards the streaming era – and delivering live TV over broadband for free is a ground-breaking innovation that will futureproof public service broadcasting.”

Inga Leschek Named RTL Deutschland Content Chief

Inga Leschek is the new Chief Content Officer at RTL Deutschland. On June 1, she will add management of all brands within the German broadcast giant to her current duties as Program Director of RTL and streamer RTL+. This means she will add oversight of content for RTL, Vox, NTV, RTL Super and Multichannel, RTL+ and all journalistic content for RTL News (except Stern+) — duties that were under the previous CCO Stephan Schmitter, who was recently upped to CEO. Leschek returned to RTL last year after a spell at Netflix. Prior to that, she had spent seven years running RTL Studios.

MGM+ Joining Prime Video Channels In India

More collaboration between Amazon’s content operations here: Prime Video and MGM International have teamed to launch the MGM+ streaming service in India. MGM+ will be made available through Prime Video Channels for ₹599 ($7.17) a year for Prime members. The move will be seen as Amazon’s latest attempt to push into the lucrative Indian retail market. Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, recently said India is driving more Amazon subscriptions than anywhere else, bar the U.S. A recent Prime Video slate comprises nearly 70 films and TV shows.