There are various different catch up services and streaming options out there for us to use. In general, the main streaming platforms that many of us use on a regular basis are Netflix and Amazon Prime, which have only really become super popular in the last few years.
However when it comes down to catch up and on demand services, there are two major ones that most of us want. BBC iPlayer is readily available on almost all smart TVs, and it’ll typically come pre-installed on your device. They even introduced BBC iPlayer to owners of LG TVs back in August 2020, after a long time of waiting.
Unfortunately, there’s still no support on LG TVs for people looking to watch ITV Player/Hub. It doesn’t come pre-installed on LG televisions, and many others that don’t use the Android operating system either*.
This is pretty frustrating, as you’d expect with any new smart TV that they’re going to have the ‘big three’ of BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all covered. There’s also reports of ITV Hub not working, but only on certain brands of smart TV.
How to get ITV Hub/Player on your smart TV
So unfortunately, there are some brands of smart TV that won’t be able to get ITV player. This includes some LG and Sony smart TVs, because their operating system isn’t integrated to using the ITV hub at the present.
As I mentioned, this is pretty frustrating. It’s likely that it will come to all smart TVs sooner rather than later, but it does seem like this should have been planned a little better.
EDIT for LG users*: As of March 2021, LG have come out and publicly said that all televisions released this year will have the full Freeview Play selection to choose from. This includes all of the BBC streaming channels, and ITV Hub as well.
They’ve also said that all models from 2020 should have been updated to include ITV Hub as well. Many allowed only the BBC streaming apps to be downloaded, but not ITV Hub. The CX and GX have had the Hub for a while, whilst the BX has only just had the service added.
If you have an LG TV that still doesn’t have ITV Hub, then please leave a comment below letting us know the model number!
Of course, some of these models may not have been designed with the UK in mind, meaning that they didn’t expect there to be any ‘necessities’. What other options do you have if you don’t have ITV hub on your telly, and you can’t download the app either? That’s what we’re going to look at now.
Link your laptop up
For the time being, it’s probably easiest for you to make do with what you’ve already got at home. If you don’t have any other streaming device that you can use, then you can always load up ITV hub within the browser on your laptop.
This is pretty easy to do, and all you’ll need to do is create an account and let them know your address. They only do this as they’re dubious about people watching live shows without a TV licence. But, you don’t need a TV licence to watch catch up TV anyway.
Once you’ve loaded it up, you can simply link the laptop to the back of your television via a HDMI cable. Sure, it might be a little bit much to do it every time that you want to watch something, but for the one off occasion it’s a good solution.
Get a Casting or Streaming Device
Another alternative that you can use to watch ITV player on your smart TV is to pick up a casting or streaming device to do this with. There are many different options for you to choose from here, and they’ll all come with ITB Hub pre-installed or easily downloadable.
All you’ll need to do with these devices is to plug them into the back of your television. Some of them will work with just a USB port to power them, whilst others will come with their own AC adapter to use too. Here’s a couple of your options in this scenario.
There are other options you can choose from if you want to catch up with what you’ve missed on your television. But at the moment, these are probably the best methods you can use.
Conclusion
It’s unlikely that it’s going to be forever before the ITV Hub app is added into the network of apps for non-Android smart TVs, but in the meantime it’s still pretty frustrating.
There are a few solutions to this problem, with a casting device probably being the best way to get ITV hub on your smart TV for the majority of people. You’ll also have the option to choose from a variety of catch up apps to watch too.
I came to the same conclusion as you when trying to use ITV Hub on my LG TV. I did however manage to access it via the TV’s Web Browser, which seemed to work OK until i tried to enter full-screen viewing. It wouldn’t allow that so I could only watch via a relatively small window surrounded by much ITV Hub dross. Like you, I then attempted to find a back door by loading ITV Hub app on my iPhone (same for iPad as well) and casting that to my TV. The Hub app worked as normal on my phone, including full screen viewing, but as soon as I tried to cast it to my TV, using either Airplay or an HDMI cable, ITV Hub refused to cooperate and remained visible only on my phone/pad. Until LG get their finger out and provide access to a working ITV Hub, I’ll be recording anything I want on ITV and only using catch up on iPlayer. Incidentally, using the All4 and My5 catch up methods via the browser on LG TV seems to work sort of OK. Not completely frictionless but possible with a bit of playing about.
Hey Howard, at least LG finally got iPlayer. Hopefully in 2021 they’ll add ITV Hub and the rest of the necessary catch up apps too. I’ve tried to get it within browser too but it’s too frustrating and I’d rather not watch it at all than not be able to put it into full screen!
Hi Howard. I did the same through the browser. If you use the browser zoom function you can zoom in to make it bigger.
Hiya,
If you go into the controls (the three dots on the top right) you can make the screen bigger (up to 300%) but you still have to cut off the very top, or bottom, of the screen to watch at that size.
I have LG TV with ITVHub, but it does not show live itv only catchup programmes, also there is no ITV guide to say what is streaming live.
Are you able to help with a work around.
In short: I have a TV license but only run the TV from WIFI as to avoid dangerous leads running across the room i.e. no aerial or satellite. (Living in a new build where socket are satellite but to hard to reach.) bbc iplayer works fine.
Hi guys I’ve just purchased an LG smart tv which had ITV loaded on but am unable to watch live events eg Euros football finals.
Ridiculous really as I can watch live events on the ITV HUB through my Samsung Galaxy Phone and Tablet.
Have to go back to mirroring I think.
Tv model is.
LG SMART TV AI THIN Q 43LM63
Workaround I just found; using my iPad, use screen mirroring to your LG TV. If you then want to watch live ITV, the only workaround I have found is to actually load itv.com within Safari, and then stream to the TV from that. If you try to use the ITV Hub app on an iPad, the TV will not allow it – just use Safari instead and you’ll soon be watching live ITV, finally! Hope that helps.
I have a 2020 LG oled you can download the ITV and 4 App no problem and watch programmes from the player but neither will allow me to watch Live TV I have tried everything and it just doesn’t work. They both work fine in my laptop. If I try to get them on my laptop and project them to my TV with Apple Play I get sound only and no pictures.
This seems to be a deliberate restriction to me rather than technical issues
So we have ITV hub on our new LG but it won’t allow us to watch live TV, has anyone come across this?
Yes, we have the same issue which is really frustrating, especially during the Euro cup!
I’ve the same problem. No ITV Euros games for me:-(
Samsung QE49Q6FNA ITV hub loads but black screens when progam tries to play. I have 29Mb up and 9 down speeds on my connection at TV.
BUT when i use my iphone hotspot connection to TV the player works very very well! So i contacted my service provider Plus Net and they could find no issues with service or router setup that could block or buffer or throttle the ITV hub.
Really a weired problem. Im waiting for Samsung support now to contact me so i can give above details to them, to try and resolve normal inetrnet connection to work , like it always does with BBC I player, but note also Ch4 and Samsungs TV plus extra channels dont work.
Hey Michael, it almost seems that your ISP (Plus Net) is blocking the ITV hub content stream itself. Perhaps the support person you spoke with doesn’t realize they are doing that. Might be worth looking at other ISP’s mate 🙂
thanks, PLUSNET are supplying a new router for me. happens i just powered off router for 30 minutes and when back on the apps all work no problem, this points to router cache memory issues so will fit new router when it arrives, Im told its the same model as i already have but im hoping firmware has been improved to clear any resident cache memory problems. So anyone out there with similar problems try using a phone hotspot wifi as an alternative internet connection to prove or isolate exactly where problem lies.where pro
This has taken me over 4 months to resolve, Plusnet suggested i might try another make of router that they would setup up along with some sort of discount towards it?