Sky Glass

[David Stuart]

Wondering what people’s thoughts are on this and also happy to answer any questions.

I make no secret. I work for sky and have done for almost 16 years. They are a fantastic company to work for and have some really brilliant products.

Ive been aware of this product for about a year but not every element. Today it was announced at an event put on in London. Sure soon enough you will all see the ad campaign as we spend millions advertising it to every adult in the U.K. on average over 80 times.

Here is the pre-reg page.

Start of the announcement at the office in Livingston.

Couple bad of photos I took of the demo screens.

I was a little concerned with the thickness of the panels from the promo but in real life, they are thicker round the edge to fit the built in speakers and flat back panel but no bigger overall.

I’m sure you can all read the press release so I’ll not go through specs. Overall it looks pretty awesome and of course I want one.


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[Greeny.]

Great idea if you don’t mind being stuck with Sky for the life of the telly, Sky brings nothing for me personally other than the ability of having everything in one place but it’s hardly a chore pressing a few different buttons on my LG remote and saving myself £30+ a month.

 

[Bluebeard]

My thoughts; pointless and waste of money.

my £150 TV has been fine for the last 4 years and I suspect it will be fine for the next 4 years. I can’t see the sky box or any of the cables as they are below, inside the TV cabinet.

if you’re in to that sort of thing I’d imagine it’s quite cool, but I just don’t get it at all.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

So they've invented the smart TV ?!

 

[Djw John]

I think going to online and ditching the dishes makes a lot of sense.

The rest of it doesn't. It could just be a dongle like a firestick, making it a tv seems pretty daft to me and can't help but feel it's a bit 'Betamax' all over again.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Coming to a council estate near you soon

 

[JP83]

Coming to a council estate near you soon

In one of your weird pubs?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

I read about this earlier and from what I can tell, their main audience will be people living in flats etc that can't have a sky dish but would still want sky.
I wouldn't buy one personally, I'd just stick to my sky box.

I assume they will allow other things to be connected. Will they limit what apps you can watch? There's some not available on sky at the moment, Apple TV being one of them iirc.

 

[mace¬]

48 million interest free loan?

 

[Mr Squashie]

>from £13 a month
>Sky ultimate at £26pm also required
It's from £39 a month then isn't it... 🧐

 

[JP83]

>from £13 a month
>Sky ultimate at £26pm also required
It's from £39 a month then isn't it... 🧐

I think you can buy the "TV" outright as well? At least the news article I saw also showed their overall price?

Sky Glass: New 4k UltraHD smart TV set to replace satellite dishes and boxes

The new device from Sky is set to aggregate a range of electronic devices normally spread throughout a home into one single location, just as it plans on doing with content from platforms such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon.

news.sky.com

 

[Mr Squashie]

I think you can buy the "TV" outright as well? At least the news article I saw also showed their overall price?

Sky Glass: New 4k UltraHD smart TV set to replace satellite dishes and boxes

The new device from Sky is set to aggregate a range of electronic devices normally spread throughout a home into one single location, just as it plans on doing with content from platforms such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon.

news.sky.com

Ah right, so it's from £26 then 😂

 

[youngarthur]

My internet has a 2mb guarantee, when it works, and on the Scottish moors, have been informed, no chance of fibre, so, dish or no Sky.

 

[Mr Squashie]

My internet has a 2mb guarantee, when it works, and on the Scottish moors, have been informed, no chance of fibre, so, dish or no Sky.

What's your phone coverage like? Could you use mobile data instead?

 

[David Stuart]

Ah right, so it's from £26 then [emoji23]

Technically you can get it from £13 a month. The contract is for the TV. Sky subs will change to a rolling 31 day contract so you could cancel sky viewing and still use the TV. But why would you.

As for sky inventing the smart TV. Kind of. But kind of missing the point. There are two big challenges for content providers and consumers that we have been struggling with.

1) content providers are worried about their prominence. You see this in smart TVs where you are just another app. You don’t appear on a home page etc. Some content providers were partnering with TV manufacturers to put a Roku or Netflix buttton on the remote to get around this.

2) customers spend longer looking for what to watch than ever before. Content is fragmented across various apps and there is nowhere aggregating this into a single experience. SkyQ does a bit of this but the experience across Disney+ / Netflix / YouTube is varied.

Interesting to see first reactions though. I think this product will take some time to bed in and get the full features across. SkyQ really struggled with this on launch.


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[Poopensharten]

Whenever i see sky, i just imagine whatever is being peddled it involves the general public being fisted with a boxing glove. Not a reputable company in my eyes.

 

[David Stuart]

My internet has a 2mb guarantee, when it works, and on the Scottish moors, have been informed, no chance of fibre, so, dish or no Sky.

Yeah you should stick to a dish. This will have a 10mb minimum.

But you will one day have 500mb fibre. By 2030 if the estimates are right.

Don’t believe me. Ask yourself if you could see you getting 2mb internet 20 years ago. [emoji23]


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[PMac]

I have sky Q and the cabling is a problem for me from the dish. This therefore may be the answer. Would be great to get rid of the dish. The Sky Glass won’t replace my oled but I could put the small SG in a bedroom and get a puck, is it called? The puck will sit with the oled. Problem solved 🤔

 

[Mr Squashie]

Sky subs will change to a rolling 31 day contract so you could cancel sky viewing and still use the TV

That's quite interesting, I cancelled my Sky earlier this year after 5 years with them because they wouldn't re-apply a discount without beginning a new 18 month contract. I told them to blow it out their arse and cancelled everything there and then. If it had been a rolling contract I'd still be with them.

the experience across Disney+ / Netflix / YouTube is varied.

I always used the app on my TV because I wanted to watch Netflix in 4k, but wasn't prepared to pay the massive fee for a new Sky Q box and some multiroom subscription that was supposedly necessary for it.
I also remember having issues with the YouTube app but can't remember what they were, but again I much preferred the TV app.

It does sound like an interesting concept, and I can see it being quite popular with people who don't want to shop around for everything separately. TV, soundbar, Sky, all in one monthly payment sounds pretty convenient.

 

[David Stuart]

I read about this earlier and from what I can tell, their main audience will be people living in flats etc that can't have a sky dish but would still want sky.
I wouldn't buy one personally, I'd just stick to my sky box.

I assume they will allow other things to be connected. Will they limit what apps you can watch? There's some not available on sky at the moment, Apple TV being one of them iirc.

That was the start of the IP project. We have struggled with about 4m headroom that can’t have a dish since 1989.

But it’s been changed from just another box with no dish to a totally new platform. Upgradable over time.

It should change sky from a content and subscription tv business to a product business.

As for other kit. Yes you can connect it. And better it will appear on your Home Screen with the proper icon. And you can even go “sky, go to Xbox” and it will change to that input.


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[SC03OTT]

What does it give over say, a Roku stick with the NOWTV app? I assume with this you can get every channel, can record etc? Instead of just stream?

 

[Pistachio]

Isn't this just NOW TV but you're stuck paying for a tv you don't want? They should have just made a NOW TV box

 

[David Stuart]

What does it give over say, a Roku stick with the NOWTV app? I assume with this you can get every channel, can record etc? Instead of just stream?

Yeah. Live tv, record (but now cloud storage) app integration with Netflix, Disney+, Discovery+ etc. Content recommendations.

In future (2022) video calling, family games (Xbox engine built in) and home fitness.


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[David Stuart]

Isn't this just NOW TV but you're stuck paying for a tv you don't want? They should have just made a NOW TV box

I understand that point of view. You have to understand the competition and near term landscape. Most of the benefits of doing it this way is for the content provider and not the user right now. But the user experience is in different league.

Look at the US tv market. 50% of new TVs are made by either roku, Amazon or Google. They are doing exactly this and controlling what people call HDMI 0. Basically your home page.

If you just sold another set top box. 2 years down the line customers will have new “smarter” TVs from Apple, google, Amazon etc and their new IP streaming box would be hidden behind a Home Screen promoting Apple, Amazon’s, Google’s recommendations.

Also NOW is a sky product. So technically they sell that already.


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[Gally]

Interesting David. I was expecting sky q to be the one without the dish actually. Confused me when it came out!

Decent idea. TV with decent speakers is an all in one and it's almost a free TV with sky, no box, no dish.

What won't work, if it's a locked down TV. Like an apple product.

They are combatting IpTv every day and the streaming platforms are showing better value just now. I have sky, no sports, but I pay like £27 a month for sky uhd and I get my money's worth out of it.

 

[David Stuart]

Interesting David. I was expecting sky q to be the one without the dish actually. Confused me when it came out!

Decent idea. TV with decent speakers is an all in one and it's almost a free TV with sky, no box, no dish.

What won't work, if it's a locked down TV. Like an apple product.

They are combatting IpTv every day and the streaming platforms are showing better value just now. I have sky, no sports, but I pay like £27 a month for sky uhd and I get my money's worth out of it.

I expected IP / cloud from SkyQ as well. When it came out in 2016 it felt like a bit of a let down initially. It’s been developed over time to a very good product.

I think the biggest issue back then would be the reliable HD streaming. Especially live sport / event TV. We are now at the right time with virgin expansion and open reach Fibre to to home. 2016 would have been too early for large scale IPTV in the U.K.


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[Ay Ay Ron]

With streaming over the internet Vs through the dish, you can definitely tell the difference.
Going from BT to Sky was night and day. BT HD is like sky SD, absolutely horrendous.

 

[Ex-User (60778)]

My internet has a 2mb guarantee, when it works, and on the Scottish moors, have been informed, no chance of fibre, so, dish or no Sky.

Starlink

High-speed internet. Available almost anywhere on Earth.

www.starlink.com

 

[N0ddie]

Terrible idea. Why can't we get a Sky app for our current smart TV (Which is better than the glass pants) or a Sky Q box that allows streaming as opposed to satellite input?

 

[N0ddie]

Coming to a council estate near you soon

Funnily enough my mate said something very similar. Ideal for those that shop at Brighthouse.

 

[AdDaMan]

Sky can't even fix their sky Q boxes after 8 years of being out with a simple hdmi handshake issue, so f**k would i ever buy one of their TV's.

 

[R3k1355]

Whats the telly like?

Cos if it doesn't have the specs needed for the PS5 or Xbox it's not a massive draw for some.

 

[David Stuart]

Whats the telly like?

Cos if it doesn't have the specs needed for the PS5 or Xbox it's not a massive draw for some.

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[Pistachio]

I understand that point of view. You have to understand the competition and near term landscape. Most of the benefits of doing it this way is for the content provider and not the user right now. But the user experience is in different league.

Look at the US tv market. 50% of new TVs are made by either roku, Amazon or Google. They are doing exactly this and controlling what people call HDMI 0. Basically your home page.

If you just sold another set top box. 2 years down the line customers will have new “smarter” TVs from Apple, google, Amazon etc and their new IP streaming box would be hidden behind a Home Screen promoting Apple, Amazon’s, Google’s recommendations.

Also NOW is a sky product. So technically they sell that already.


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I know NOW is from Sky. My point was they should put that on a sky style box with recording, live pause etc. that can plug into any TV.

I understand Sky wants to control everything, but that just isn't what consumers want. There is so much more choice now than back when Sky was in control, which is why people are moving away.

Sky Glass feels like a desperate attempt to cling on to the monopoly they once had.

 

[David Stuart]

I know NOW is from Sky. My point was they should put that on a sky style box with recording, live pause etc. that can plug into any TV.

I understand Sky wants to control everything, but that just isn't what consumers want. There is so much more choice now than back when Sky was in control, which is why people are moving away.

Sky Glass feels like a desperate attempt to cling on to the monopoly they once had.

Your missing my point.

Yes it’s about control. But not about regaining it just now. We still have the biggest and best pay TV service in Europe.

It’s about the future. This type of service is coming and if we don’t do it. Sky will just be another content app alongside another 100 apps with someone else in control. Be that google / Amazon / Apple.

There are huge benefits to the consumer as well. They get better content aggregation and discovery. 20 years ago there were 400 channels but they were all on one platform. So having the ability to record that was the best solution. Now there are hundreds of apps across multiple platforms. So you need to pull that together and make it future proof before consumers can even get the best of what they want to watch from those providers. Sky want to position as the aggregator but under no illusion of being the sole content provider.


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[R3k1355]

View attachment 1561294


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So has it got the refresh rate needed?

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

So has it got the refresh rate needed?

I doubt it for the price point, and the screen size is 42 inch for the cheapest set.

 

[David Stuart]

So has it got the refresh rate needed?

I don’t know.


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[Gally]

I expected IP / cloud from SkyQ as well. When it came out in 2016 it felt like a bit of a let down initially. It’s been developed over time to a very good product.

I think the biggest issue back then would be the reliable HD streaming. Especially live sport / event TV. We are now at the right time with virgin expansion and open reach Fibre to to home. 2016 would have been too early for large scale IPTV in the U.K.


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Agreed David,

I waited a long time before getting Sky Q, and only because the deal was too good to turn down. It's useful, we enjoy quite a few movies, but we use the other platforms just as much.

Making it an all in one box is clever, putting netflix etc on the box as an app keeps you in the box. The new (better than touhc pad of course) remote is still horrendous, I moaned about this before.

It will be in my house for a while yet as it's such a little cost and works well in my set up. For anymore money I doubt I could justify what I watch.

Good luck with the launch, I know it will tie in lots of customers and retention is all important just now with such competition.

The speaker in the TV is a good selling point, people will definitley appreciate that when they use it over the purchase of a sound bar!

 

[Cookie]

However you dress it up, they are trying to convince people that they've invented the smart TV.

Presumably you'll still be able to plug games consoles into it..