wedotv Movies Launches on Freely in the UK With a Refreshed New Regency Slate

Britain’s free-TV rebuild picked up a proper film channel this week. wedotv has launched its wedotv Movies channel on Freely, the free streaming platform backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5, Advanced Television reported on October 20, 2026. Broadband TV News, reporting the same launch the same day, confirmed the channel’s arrival on the platform and the refreshed film slate that comes with it: a collection of titles acquired from New Regency, led by the Academy Award-winning The Big Short.

The slate is the substance of the announcement, and both outlets published the same line-up. Alongside The Big Short come the comedies Big Momma’s House and Big Momma’s House 2; Oliver Stone’s JFK; the cult crime film Natural Born Killers; and a run of action and thriller staples — The Sentinel, The Negotiator, The Client and Under Siege. It is a deliberately recognizable catalog: theatrical hits and long-running television repeats rather than library obscurities, programmed, as Broadband TV News described it, across a 24-hour schedule of action, thrillers, comedy and drama.

What the two sides said

The quotes in the launch announcement were on the record from both companies. Sharp said: “Launching wedotv Movies on Freely is another important step in expanding our UK distribution.” Chris Sharp, Chairman of wedotv, continued: “At the same time, we are delighted to renew our relationship with New Regency. Their catalogue includes some truly recognisable films and Hollywood stars, and is a great addition to the growing line-up on wedotv and wedotv Movies.”

Deep Halder, Chief Commercial Officer at Everyone TV — the organization behind Freely — answered from the platform’s side. Halder said: “wedotv Movies is a great addition to Freely, giving viewers even more films to enjoy alongside the best of live and on demand TV. It adds to Freely’s growing range of entertainment, bringing free TV together over Wi-Fi, all in one place.” Broadband TV News carried the same statements, with Sharp describing the launch as an important step in expanding wedotv’s UK distribution and Halder calling the channel a great addition that gives viewers more films alongside live and on-demand television.

What Freely is, and why a film channel matters to it

Freely is the UK public broadcasters’ answer to a simple problem: audiences are leaving the aerial behind. Launched in 2024 by Everyone TV, a joint venture of the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5, according to Wikipedia’s record of the service, Freely streams live television and on-demand programming over a broadband connection, through a single programme guide. Radio Times, in its explainer on the platform, noted that viewers do not need an aerial, a dish or a set-top box — a compatible smart TV or streaming device and an internet connection are enough — and that the service is completely free, with no contract.

That model makes third-party channels strategically important. The public service broadcasters supply the core live channels and catch-up services, but a platform asking households to treat it as their main television home needs depth in the guide — and film is the oldest depth television has. A curated, always-on movie channel costs the viewer nothing, fills the schedule around the big live moments, and gives the platform something the broadcasters’ own apps do not specialize in. wedotv Movies is also available nationally on Freeview Channel 98, Advanced Television reported, alongside wedotv’s broader distribution across connected TV and streaming platforms, so the Freely launch extends an existing channel rather than inventing one for the platform.

The New Regency relationship behind the slate

The “renewed” relationship Sharp mentioned has a recent paper trail. In July 2025, Advanced Television reported that wedotv had completed a licensing deal with New Regency for a package of more than 80 films, covering wedotv’s direct-to-consumer service and its movies channels in the UK, Italy, the DACH region, Benelux and the Nordics. Sharp, then quoted as co-CEO, said at the time, in wedotv’s announcement, that the studio’s catalogue — “from global blockbuster hits to cult favourites” — fit wedotv’s territory-by-territory curation model. The Freely slate reads as the UK-facing fruit of that deal: one Oscar-winning finance drama, two broad comedies, two Oliver Stone titles and a spine of 1990s thrillers.

The launch also continues a year of steady platform expansion for the company. In July 2026, Advanced Television reported wedotv’s first distribution agreement with TiVo, putting eight of its free, ad-supported channels — wedotv Movies among them, in the UK, Germany and Italy — onto TiVo OS televisions and automotive platforms across Europe. Freely is a different kind of distribution: not a device manufacturer’s channel store, but the public broadcasters’ own successor platform to Freeview, which Wikipedia notes Freely is expected to gradually replace over the long term.

How to watch

UK viewers with a Freely-compatible smart TV or streaming device will find wedotv Movies in the Freely guide now, with the refreshed New Regency slate in its 24-hour schedule; the channel remains on Freeview Channel 98 for aerial households. For more on what is launching and moving across the week’s television, see Previously’s TV section, and for the wider free-streaming picture, our Free streaming guide. The headline here is not any single title. It is that Britain’s free-TV future is being stocked, deal by deal, with films people have actually heard of.