Sky is shaking up its subscription TV model, today unveiling Sky Q, a new high-end pay-TV service to rival the likes of Netflix and Apple TV.
Sitting above, not replacing, the company's current Sky+ HD service, Sky Q better merges live broadcasts with on-demand content, pairing a completely reworked interface with new hardware.
It's not just about the living room TV, either. Sky Q, through the use of additional 'Mini' set-top boxes and dedicated tablet apps, lets households enjoy both live and on-demand viewing across three TVs and two tablets simultaneously. Thanks to Sky Q Sync, you can even take your recordings out of the house.
What's more, adding 4K UHD support for the first time, Sky's bringing itself in line with the latest offerings from BT Sport and Amazon Fire TV.
"Sky Q is the biggest reimagining of Sky in our history," Sky's president said. "Customers want TV to be more flexible and seamless across more screens. Our ambition was to reimagine TV for the way people consume content today."
With a new platform comes a new set-top box, and here Sky Q has something special. The Sky Q Silver box is half the size of the existing Sky+HD boxes and plays host to 12 tuners.
This allows you to record up to four separate shows simultaneously, without interfering with what you're watching live.
With this many recording options, you're going to need plenty of storage. Here Sky has bestowed the new Sky Q box with 2TB of internal storage. That's five times more space than today's standard HD box.
It's not just about Sky's services either - the Sky Q box offers Apple Air Play support to let you cast your own content and features a number of online apps, including YouTube, GoPro and Red Bull channels.
Sky Q is a fully connected service that offers what Sky is dubbing 'Fluid Viewing'. Integral to this is the new Sky Q Mini box - a compact, connected set-top box that syncs to your new home system as opposed to the dish on the outside of your property.
Playing nice with the new Sky Q Hub router, the platform, as well as supporting all the latest Wi-Fi standards, can send internet over your home's electrical network to every device. This turns any Sky Q Mini boxes into Wi-Fi hotspots.
The remote's changed too - and dramatically. Adding touch controls and an integrated mic for voice searches, the remote is more attuned to navigate the reworked, picture-heavy interface.
But the wait for Sky Q continues, as the broadcaster has confirmed the new service will be made available to consumers in "early 2016". Pricing and a more specific release window are yet to be confirmed.
Think it will depend on flats, though it may require some additional infrastructure. If you have 4 LNB feeds to your flats - then you should be OK (4 LNB feeds will feed any number of tuners at a single orbital position)
It appears to be using 2 x LNB cables - so to support 12 tuners it will need to be using Unicable I suspect (so you'd need an upstream Unicable multiswitch?)
Looking at the specs, nice, but over complicated and to launch as a new service seems silly. Gimmick heavy too. Three tiers looks ominous for their bottom line. In addition a failure to announce a content start date at such a presentation is poor.
Surely offering Sky Q in addition to Sky+ HD is no different to how the Sky+HD was for the first few years in addition to the existing Sky+ and Sky STBs? Surely there will come a point when the cost of the technology will fall to the point where it'll be sold as standard (and presumably a bigger Sky Q box or something will then be offered, akin to the Sky+HD 1/2 TB boxes?).
I wouldn't be surprised if the charge for standard HD is scrapped. It's also time Sky News HD was also offered FTA and on NOW TV. (Currently available to Now TV Box viewers in 480p via the Sky News app).
I wouldn't be surprised if the charge for standard HD is scrapped. It's also time Sky News HD was also offered FTA and on NOW TV. (Currently available to Now TV Box viewers in 480p via the Sky News app).
In fairness, all but the very basic subscription now include all HD stuff except the premium channels. But yeah, I agree, it's ridiculous when you consider Sky wants customers to pay £26/month (in addition to whatever base subscription they take) for access to Sky Movies HD, when NowTV charge £9.99/month for access to the same films in 720p.