New Panasonic smart TVs will come with a dose of Freetime

Freesat's Freetime will power new Panasonic smart TVs
Panasonic gives customers a dose of the free

Panasonic has announced that it's sparking up a partnership with Freesat, and that the Freetime service will be available in selected new Panasonic Viera smart TVs.

Until now, you'd need a Freesat set-top box to use the service, but now it'll come built into the TV and it won't matter if your home gets its TV through a satellite or an aerial.

A Panasonic spokesperson told TechRadar that we can expect to see the first Viera model with Freesat in UK stores this May, however they were unable to confirm a price.

Freestylin'

Freetime lets users go back through the TV listings of the past seven days, as well as access on-demand services such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD. The fact that it will now work with Freeview as well as Freesat puts it in direct competition with YouView - a very similar service.

Freesat's been busily working its way into homes these past few months, with its user base now sitting at over 1.8 million.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.