Help me understand Freeview/smart tvs!!

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We have a BT box but no aerial because my shit builders took it out.

We can watch BBC iplayer and Netflix and subscription channels but we can’t watch live tv because the BT box doesn’t show freeview channels without an aerial. So at the moment we watch everything on iplayer (we can watch live that way).

It’s a pain because I can’t get ITV hub to work except on catch up so we can’t watch ITV live. I feel like I’m paying for the BT box and we can hardly watch any TV! I just don’t understand any of it.

What do I need? A different BT box? (I can get a BT Box Pro which works through broadband apparently). Or would it be cheaper to have an aerial installed?

Someone please help me understand!

You either need an antenna so your current box will work, or you need a different box. It seems quite straightforward. You need to work out the cost implications of both, and make a decision as to which you want.

The flat black aeriel pads are excellent, you just plug in , you can get them on amazon or argos.

You don't need Freeview. You can watch all of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 live via their apps, which you can downloadjyst the same as iplayer, Netflix etc. Our TV aerial was damaged years ago but it's not an issue because we can watch any of the terrestrial TV channels live through our (quite old) Smart TV. But, to be honest, most TV is awful so we rarely do - apart from sport.

I don't understand ITV hub. On one TV you can watch live but on the other you can't. You can cast from your phone and either buy a fire stick/Google chrome (about £5 second hand or a bit more new)

My TV that doesn't have itv live is new with free view but no aerial. I will have a look at the pads recommended above

We gave up with Freeview. Even with a massive aerial on the roof the picture quality was dreadful.

Amazon fire stick great if you have broadband. Can watch all the channels on their apps and live and also any ones you subscribe to

We have the ITV Hub app but it won’t let us watch live TV on the TV.

We have a fire stick somewhere from ages ago but surely we’ll have the same issue?

I’ve always been sceptical about those black aerial pads - do they really work?

Look on your phone, download the itv app and you should see live TV which you can then cast to the fire stick. Doesn't make sense