The mobile network has just rolled out Vodafone TV, offering hundreds of channels alongside streaming apps in a choice of affordable monthly subscriptions.
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Vodafone TV delivers live and on-demand TV channels from Freely.
Vodafone has launched a new TV streaming service to rival major brands like Sky. The mobile network has already expanded to the home broadband market and has now gone one step further with the rollout of Vodafone TV.
This new WiFi-powered platform brings together hundreds of TV channels and streaming apps like Netflix and HBO Max from £10 per month – equal to roughly 33p per day. Each Vodafone TV subscription also provides more than 300 video games available to play over a Cloud service without a console.
The entry-level Vodafone TV plan delivers more than 200 live channels and on-demand TV with Freely for £10 per month. The £17 Vodafone TV Essential plan includes the same perks, plus Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions, worth a combined £13.98, at no extra cost.
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Mobile customers can combine Vodafone Entertainment with Vodafone TV Essential to create Vodafone TV Ultimate, which adds Disney+ or Prime Video to the package for a total of £25.50. All this is available through a plug‑in entertainment hub that delivers 4K content without a satellite dish or aerial.
The compact device has Freely built in, which unlocks access to more than 70 live channels and thousands of hours of on‑demand content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and more. Viewers can also stream more than 150 additional live TV channels, while apps like Disney+, Prime Video and DAZN are also available with paid subscriptions.
Vodafone TV delivers hundreds of TV channels plus Netflix and HBO Max from £10 per month.
There’s a caveat, though, as customers must commit to a 24-month contract to secure Vodafone TV, during which time monthly prices will increase by £1.50 each April. This means the £10 subscription will cost £11.50 from April 2027 and £13 from April 2028.
Vodafone TV is available to Vodafone customers with a mobile or broadband plan, including existing customers and those signing up for a new contract. Until October 28, the brand is giving away Vodafone TV Essential free for 24 months when new customers take out Pro Broadband package from £39, saving £408 over the contract term.
Sky is giving away freebies too, with its own TV and broadband bundles, including the Essential TV and 900Mbps Full Fibre Gigafast Broadband. This £35 plan now delivers 12 times faster speeds (vs 75Mbps) at no extra cost.
Elsewhere, Virgin Media’s £32.99 Entertainment bundle includes more than 200 channels and free Netflix, but slower 516Mbps broadband. Announcing the launch of Vodafone TV, the firm’s Consumer Director, Rob Winterschladen, said it brings together customers’ entertainment while helping them cut unnecessary costs.
He said: “Households are dealing with a TV set‑up that’s become far too complicated – juggling multiple apps, long channel bundles and services they often don’t use. Our research shows that more than a third of people haven’t changed their TV provider in the last five years, with the perceived hassle of switching a big blocker and, as a result, they are still paying for features that should be standard.
“Vodafone TV gives customers a smarter alternative: one simple, intuitive experience that brings their favourite entertainment together and helps them cut out unnecessary costs. With Netflix and HBO Max included for £17 per month, it delivers exceptional value from day one.”
It’s a good thing Mogwai don’t seem to age — “Gremlins 3” has been delayed until 2028.
Warner Bros. on Wednesday shared a brief teaser of the upcoming movie on Instagram along with its new release date. “Gremlins 3” will now hit theaters on Oct. 8, 2028, instead of Nov. 19, 2027.
The brief social media clip features Gizmo rustling around inside a backpack in an indiscernible location.
“Uh-oh,” the adorable furry creature says while peering through the unzipped opening as the new release date appears. Hopefully he doesn’t snack on anything he isn’t supposed to while he awaits his big-screen return.
“Gremlins 3” was officially announced by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav during an earnings call in 2025. Original “Gremlins” writer Chris Columbus will helm the feature, which is produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Spielberg is an executive producer.
It has been decades since Gizmo’s last big-screen adventure. The Mogwai and his misbehaved progeny debuted in the 1984 holiday classic “Gremlins” and returned in the 1990 follow-up, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.” Directed by Joe Dante, the films established three key rules for handling the mysterious, big-eared creatures: Don’t get them wet, feed them after midnight or expose them to light. Gizmo’s origin story was explored more recently in the HBO Max animated series, “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.”
The release date shift follows the recent settlement with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta that has cleared the way for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Deadline, the change is unrelated to the pending merger.
California Atty. General Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison have reached an agreement to end the state’s antitrust fight, paving the way for Ellison to complete his $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, said a person familiar with the matter.
The two sides have agreed to resolve antitrust claims that Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general brought in late July, said the source, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the settlement.
As part of the deal, Paramount agreed to pay a penalty if the company fails to make good on a promise to distribute 30 films per year in theaters and to spend $1.5 billion on film production in Hollywood over the next five years, said the source who was not authorized to comment.
Representatives of Paramount and Bonta did not respond to a request for comment.
A federal judge must approve the agreement. Paramount would then be poised to quickly finalize its purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery — a blockbuster combination that will reshape Hollywood by collapsing two historic film studios with rights to Batman, Harry Potter, “Top Gun,” and Bugs Bunny and by combining the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming services.
In addition to CBS, Paramount would own dozens of cable television channels, including CNN, TBS, HGTV, Food Network and Comedy Central.
The road to a resolution was fraught. Bonta abruptly canceled a negotiation session with Paramount in late August after potential deal terms leaked. Then, after talks restarted and the settlement began taking shape, several powerful Bonta allies, including New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James and Connecticut Atty. Gen. William Tong, signaled their displeasure with proposed deal terms.
They felt the deal points didn’t go far enough to mitigate the potential clout Paramount would wield over the film and television industries if it was allowed to swallow its larger industry rival, according to three people familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment.
Ellison’s goal had long been to complete the Warner takeover by the end of September — before midterm Congressional elections and prior to a key deadline for Paramount to increase its payout to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. Ellison received a boost from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for California governor, who pressed Bonta to end the dispute rather than take the case to trial in Oakland in March.
Newsom said he took “seriously” Paramount’s threat to leave the state. He advocated for a settlement behind the scenes, according to two people close to the matter who were not authorized to comment.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Ellison was highly motivated to strike a deal because his company’s expenses will soon accelerate. Beginning Oct. 1, Paramount is on the hook to pay Warner investors a “ticking fee” of 25 cents per quarter, per share until the deal closed. That obligation is expected to add $7 million a day to the cost of the $31 a share that Paramount agreed to pay Warner shareholders when it won the bidding war back in February.
Paramount’s takeover will be heavily leveraged. The company’s bankers have lined up nearly $80 billion in debt to finance the merger. Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, late last year agreed to backstop the $47-billion in equity needed to complete the acquisition. Royal families from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have agreed to chip in $24 billion for an equity stake by assuming some of Ellison’s financial commitments.
Late last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved Paramount’s request to allow the foreign investors to own nearly 50% of the merged company. The Ellison family, however, will retain its voting control.
Paramount has promised Wall Street that it would make more than $6 billion in cost cuts. A recent Los Angeles County economic report predicted the merger could lead to an estimated 4,500 workers in the Los Angeles region losing their jobs as Ellison works to combine the two companies.
The truce comes after Paramount received clearances from regulators around the world, including the European Commission, Canada and the U.S. Justice Department.
Larry Ellison separately announced plans to switch the headquarters of his software behemoth Oracle to Nashville from Austin, Texas (after Oracle relocated from Silicon Valley six years ago).
Paramount also enlisted major Hollywood unions, the Directors Guild of America and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and prominent cinema chains to drop their opposition to the deal.
Bonta’s suit had leaned heavily into potential harms to theatrical distribution and lawyers for the states had been banking on theater executives’ testimony at trial.
The parties also were facing a key court hearing Thursday. Paramount was poised to ask U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in Oakland to make the states and the Writers Guild of America post a $1.88-billion bond that would cover some of Paramount’s delay-related deal costs should the company eventually prevail.
The states and the WGA, which also sued to block the merger, have balked at the request, which was designed by Paramount to create fissures within the coalition of states by raising doubts about the strength of their case.
Paramount’s high-profile lobbying campaign reached a crescendo in late August after Paramount called out activist-actor Mark Ruffalo, accusing him of resorting to “antisemitic tropes” to argue against the merger.
Prominent Jewish groups rushed to Paramount’s aid. Ruffalo, who frequently works with HBO, denied the allegation, saying he had a 1st Amendment right to speak against the deal as well as Oracle’s business ties to Israel. Numerous Jewish artists came to Ruffalo’s defense, saying his free speech rights were being squelched.
Bonta abruptly canceled a settlement conference, accusing Paramount of leaking confidential information.
“If you want to have an adult, legitimate, serious settlement discussion — no problem,” Bonta said during an Aug. 25 appearance in Los Angeles. “But if you want to play games, we’ve got better things to do.”
The states’ 37-page lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California, claimed the Paramount-Warner combination would violate the U.S. Clayton Act, a century-old antitrust law to prevent mergers that weaken competition and raise costs for consumers.
The states, which also included Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey and New Mexico, had argued the tie-up of two legacy movie studios would give Paramount-Warner too much marketshare in two categories — wide-release movies and potential blockbusters.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has pressed to get his blockbuster deal done before his company must make higher payouts to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders and before the mid-term elections, which could change the makeup in Congress.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
The states also said Paramount-Warner would control nearly 30% of the cable television channel space with more than 50 networks.
Paramount has been facing a June 4 deadline to complete the deal — or owe Warner Bros. Discovery a $7-billion breakup fee. Paramount has already paid $2.8-billion to cover a termination fee paid to Netflix after the streamer withdrew from the auction in February.
