Watch out Sky - new UK rival adds more TV features and is totally free to watch

The streaming revolution continues to pick up pace with providers trying to woo homes away from traditional ways of watching the telly. Sky recently unveiled its all-new Glass TV, which gets an improved display, easy setup up plus better sound from its built-in speakers and soundbar.

Unlike older systems, Sky Glass doesn't need a dish with all content beamed to the pin-sharp 4K display via the internet instead.

It's top-rated telly, but those wanting one in their homes do face having to pay a monthly price to use this premium platform.

if signing up for a long-term deal sounds like too much of a commitment, there is now another way to stream live and on-demand content and it's totally free to watch.

Freely launched last year, and offers a simple way to get your fix of entertainment via the web. Just like Sky Glass, it doesn't require an aerial and everything needed to tune into channels comes built in.

When Freely was first announced last summer, it was well behind Sky Glass. There was a very limited channel list, not many manufacturers were onboard, and it lacked some must-have features.

Freely has been getting better, but the team behind the service, who also look after Freeview, have just confirmed one of the biggest upgrades to date.

Firstly, there will soon be a whole swathe of new screens that will feature Freely. These include models from Philips and JVC. Those tellies will now join Amazon Fire TVs, Bush, Hisense, METZ, Panasonic, Sharp, TCL, TiVo, Toshiba and VIDAA which already have Freely installed. More choice is great news for consumers, but it's not the only new update that's been announced.

Freely has confirmed that it's boosting the user experience via three smart updates, including a Backwards TV Guide. As the name suggests, this allows users to scroll back over the past seven days and catch up on anything they might have missed.

Then there's an improvement to recommendations with an upgrade called Never Miss. This highlights shows that people are talking about and includes programmes that are coming up or have already aired. Freely says this new feature will continue to evolve introducing new ways to bring live content to the fore across the Freely interface.

Finally, there's a change that is similar to Sky's Playlist function on Glass TVs.

It's called My List and allows Freely users to save up to 50 favourite shows from the UK’s biggest free-to-air broadcasters - all in one place.

That means no more endless searching, just instant access TV from UK’s leading free-to-air channels, right on the homepage.

“We know viewers love watching live TV and catching up with their favourite programmes soon after broadcast, so we’ve made it even easier,” said Sarah Milton, Co-Chief Product Officer at Freely.

“Our new features—Backwards TV Guide, Never Miss, and My List—make finding, saving, and jumping back into great content effortless, whether live or on demand. Freely keeps evolving, offering premium features for free that other streaming platforms don’t have. And now with Freely becoming available on a wider range of new smart TVs, even more households will be able to enjoy this enhanced free streaming experience.”