Sky Q: TV anywhere, anytime “fluid viewing” in biggest launch in years with new set top box offering 4K UHD, YouTube and third party content, recording and pausing across devices
Sky has launched its biggest new product in years with Sky Q, a set top box and package which will offer customers the ability to watch TV anytime and anywhere.
The new offer will bring on-demand viewing to multiple devices across the home and beyond, including third-parties such as YouTube and Vevo and video content from the likes of GQ, Vogue and GoPro.
Other new features include being able to download programmes to watch on tablets and being able to pause viewing in one room and pick up watching in another.
The recording capabilities have been expanded to include up to four recordings at a time and the ability to watch them from anywhere. Ultra high-definition content will be supported.
Read more: Seven brilliant features of Apple TV and Netflix rival Sky Q
"Sky Q is a brilliant new way for customers to experience TV on their terms. It reimagines TV so that it's flexible and seamless across different screens," said chief executive Jeremy Darroch.
A cost for the premium service has not yet been revealed and it will launch early next year. David Mercer, analyst at Strategy Anlaytics, said Sky Q will likely be priced at around the £10 per month mark.
"Sky customers watch 20 per cent of programmes on connected devices and Sky Q is squarely targeted at the most demanding of this on-demand generation," he added.
"And it needs to be; premium customers are the best bet for increasing revenue, as many people are looking to reduce TV bills – indeed ARPUs (average revenue per user) across the industry are fairly stagnant. Sky Q, alongside Now TV's 'buffet' model, means Sky now covers consumers at opposite ends of this spectrum."
USwitch TV expert Ewan Taylor-Gibson praised the creation of a "wireless TV ecosystem" but said it was wait-and-see as to whether people would fork out more.
All these features will likely come at an extra cost. We already pay an average of £24 a month on our TV, so we will have to wait and see whether customers are willing to fork out additional cash for a range of fancy, yet intuitive, TV features."
Sky Q will support voice search, like Apple's Siri, down the road and the launch comes hot on the heels of Apple's latest generation of Apple TV, which went on sale in October.