The short answer
Not every free channel has catch-up, and the differences are bigger than people expect:
| Channel | Freeview | Watch online | Catch-up? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quest | 17 | discovery+ | Yes, 30 days |
| Really | 44 | discovery+ | Yes, 30 days |
| Blaze | 64 | watch.blaze.tv / BLAZE app | Live stream, free |
| GREAT! TV | 34 | Great! Player | Yes |
| That’s TV | 56 | — | No service at all |
All of them are free. None needs a subscription. The one to know about is That’s TV, which has nothing.
How to watch Quest online
Quest streams live and free through discovery+. You create a free account, and the ad-supported tier gives you the live channel plus 30 days of catch-up — so a programme from three weeks ago is still there.
It works two ways: in any browser at discoveryplus.com, or through the discovery+ app on smart TVs, phones and tablets. There is no payment card involved for the free tier.
Quest also has a +1 on Freeview channel 70 (and Sky 244), which is the quickest fix if you have joined something twenty minutes late — no app, no account, just switch over. Full listings are on our Quest TV guide.
How to watch Really online
Really uses the same discovery+ service as Quest, with the same free ad-supported tier and the same 30-day catch-up window. It runs on smart TVs, iOS, Android and most streaming sticks.
Really matters more here than Quest does, because Really has no Freeview +1. Its +1 exists only on Sky 242 and Virgin Media 365. If you are a Freeview viewer who missed the start of something on Really, discovery+ is your only option. See the Really TV guide for tonight’s schedule.
How to watch Blaze online
Blaze does it differently — it runs its own free service rather than sitting inside a bigger platform. Watch live at watch.blaze.tv, or through the free BLAZE app on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV and selected smart TVs.
The notable part: no account, no subscription and no payment card. You open it and it plays, which is rare.
Blaze is also the only channel here whose +1 is Freeview-only — Blaze +1 is on Freeview 92, and there is no Blaze +1 on Sky, Virgin Media or Freesat. Listings are on the Blaze TV guide.
How to watch GREAT! TV online
GREAT! TV streams free through Great! Player at great-player.com, with apps on YouView, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs, plus iOS and Android.
One player covers the lot: all the year-round GREAT! channels — GREAT! TV, GREAT! action, GREAT! romance and the rest — share the same free service, so you do not need a separate app per channel. See the GREAT! TV guide.
Can I watch That’s TV online?
No — and this is the one genuine gap. That’s TV has no app, no catch-up service and no live stream of its own. It is a broadcast-only channel: Freeview 56, Sky 183, Freesat 178.
That puts it a long way behind Channel 4 or ITV, and it means that if you miss a programme there is no official way to watch it back. There is no +1 either.
What happened to the That’s TV channels?
This is the other half of the confusion, and the answer is not what people assume.
That’s TV itself has not gone off air. It is still broadcasting on Freeview 56. What disappeared were its themed spin-off channels — the group ran standalone channels themed to the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and several were folded back into the main service or closed outright in 2026.
So if you had a That’s 60s or That’s 70s channel on your box and it vanished, that channel is genuinely gone. The music strands still turn up inside the main That’s TV schedule as filler between programmes, rather than as channels in their own right. The That’s TV guide shows what is actually on.
Is Film4 free?
Yes. Film4 is free-to-air on Freeview and free on Sky — it is not a premium channel and there is nothing to subscribe to. Films are also available on Channel 4’s free streaming service after broadcast, and Film4 +1 is on Sky 314 for anything you have joined late. See the Film4 TV guide.
Can I watch football on Freeview?
Some of it. The BBC and ITV both carry live matches — internationals, FA Cup ties and selected EFL games — and between them they run Match of the Day, EFL Highlights and Final Score. BBC Scotland has Sportscene, S4C shows Sgorio and Wales internationals in Welsh, and BBC Alba carries Scottish football in Gaelic.
What you cannot get on Freeview is week-to-week Premier League. Those rights belong to Sky Sports and TNT Sports, neither of which broadcasts free-to-air, so no aerial or Freeview box will pick them up. Football on free TV tonight lists what is actually on, rebuilt daily.
Which is better, +1 or catch-up?
Use a +1 when you have missed the first twenty minutes of something that is on right now — it is instant, needs no account, and starts the programme properly from the beginning an hour later.
Use catch-up for anything else: a different day, a specific episode, or a channel with no +1 on your platform. Our full list of UK +1 channels covers which channels have one and on which platform.
Related on TV Radar: +1 Channels Explained · Freeview Channel Guide · What’s On TV Tonight · Quest TV Guide · Really TV Guide
Streaming routes and channel numbers verified against our own channel guides. Free services change their terms from time to time — check the provider before assuming a tier is still free.
