Sky has issued an update for its Sky Glass subscription television sets, which adds the Sky Box Office channel, brings voice control to YouTube and streamlines accessing BBC content.
The TV sets, which have access to Sky built in through a dedicated UI with content streamed over a broadband connection, are getting a little smarter and this is the latest in the ongoing stream of updates.
First-up is the arrival of Sky’s pay-per-view Box Office channel, where it traditionally hosts its biggest boxing events. It comes with the Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua rematch for the heavyweight championship of the world less than a month away. That event takes place on August 20.
Next up, we’ve got the ability to search the entirety of YouTube without typing in the video titles. You can simply say Hello Sky, Late Night Talking on YouTube” in order to catch the latest Harry Styles video, or say “Hello Sky, Mr Beast on YouTube” and head to the top search results. Third-party voice search already works with Netflix and Sky says more apps will be supported soon.
The broadcaster is also making it easier to access BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Now, if you log into one, you’ll automatically be logged into the other one.
Sky is also making it easier to delete items from your Playlist by clicking the ‘+’ button and doing so with a single click, and lastly there are 9 new channels coming to the platform. They are as follows: Colors HD, Colors Rishtey, Colors Gujrati, Bloomberg, NBC News Now, GB News, TalkTV, Zee TV, Zee Cinema. Sky says there are more to come.
Sky Glass has gotten off to a modest start thus far, with our reviewer Kob Monney commenting on the ‘mixed results’ in his review.
He wrote: “Consider Sky Glass for what it is rather than what it’s not (or what the marketing may lead you to believe) and there’s a good experience to be had. It’s not a TV for all people, though, a bit pricey for what it is, and the picture quality rather undermines its ambitious content plans.”
