Freeview Play

Its basically youview. It will likely become the industry standard. Not a bad idea and probably deemed necessary as everyone else has already added connected services. It's still owned under a joint venture by BBC, ITV, 4, Sky and Arqiva.

From Pocket-Lint

What is Freeview Play?

Freeview Play is the connected part of the Freeview offering. Currently, Freeview is the free-to-air digital TV offering for the vast majority of UK television sets and an equally large number of set-top-boxes. It offers many standard definition channels, HD channels and Freeview+ as a standard for personal video recording.

Freeview Play will add connected services to the mix so that, within the EPG you will be able to scroll backwards through the last seven days of programming and select shows to watch streamed over the internet that you might have missed.

If you are a Virgin Media or Sky subscriber, or have a YouView box, you'll understand the concept.

The company will be making its technology an open standard, which means manufacturers can skin the experience any way they like. The Freeview Play branding will remain prominent however.

What services will it offer?

Guy North and his team have confirmed that BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and All 4 will be part of the launch. Channel 5's Demand 5 content will follow soon after.

It is not like a Smart TV platform which offers other streaming apps, such as Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. The connected content on offer will relate only to channels in the Freeview line-up. For example, you might also see UK TV's catch-up services available in the future too.

It will also work alongside individual manufacturers' platforms. When viewers click on a retrospective show in the EPG it will open and play in the existing application, for instance.