Sky have today (November 18) unveiled Sky Q, calling it "the next-generation home entertainment system, opening up a whole new way of watching TV".
Aiming to make it easier than ever to find and access popular television shows, a wide range of entertainment will be brought to the small screen through a family of advanced Sky Q products, which all connect wirelessly.
Whether live, recorded or on demand, those with the system will be able to watch shows from their box anywhere around the home on another television or tablet. This means that if you're really getting into a particular show but you remember you have some chores to do, you can pause your screen in the living room and pick up where you left off elsewhere on another screen in the house.
For the first time, Sky will also be offering the chance to save recordings onto tablet devices to watch on-the-go, anytime, anywhere. Different shows can be watched on up to five screens simultaneously, whilst four other channels can be recorded as well as the one you're watching live.
Bringing new power to your Sky Broadband, all your Sky Q boxes can be turned into Wi-Fi hotspots, and the new touchpad remote control can be scrolled and swiped through to choose what to watch in a fully-redesigned TV guide.
YouTube, Vevo and further web platforms will be accessible on Sky Q, with a powerful search engine able to find everything related to certain shows. Facebook and social media can also be utilised, with photos and music streamed wirelessly using Bluetooth or Apple's AirPlay.
Launching in early 2016, Sky Q will continuously gain new features and will be Ultra HD-ready in preperation for the laucnh of the UK's "most comprehensive Ultra High Definition service later in 2016."
Sky's Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch says: "Sky Q is a brilliant new way for customers to experience TV on their terms. We wanted to re-imagine TV so that it's flexible and seamless across different screens and to put a huge choice of entertainment at their fingertips. We think customers are going to love Sky Q and the great news is that it will get even better with much more to come in the future."
The new range of Sky Q products include:
- Sky Q Silver and Sky Q - "two new super-slim, powerful boxes for the main TV set, featuring up to 12 tuners and up to 2TB of storage"
- Sky Q Mini - "a new plug and play box giving wireless access to Sky Q in other rooms in the home without running cables from the dish"
- Sky Q Hub - "the all new Hub has built in Powerline networking technology, so it can use in-home electrical wiring as well as Wi-Fi to communicate with Sky Q boxes, automatically giving the best connection available. The Sky Q Hub also turns Sky Q boxes into Wi-Fi hotspots which means Sky Broadband customers get a stronger signal and better coverage throughout the home"
- Sky Q app - "a brand new app for your tablets that lets you enjoy all of the Sky Q experience at home, and take recordings with you and watch live and on-demand content on the go"
Sky Q will come to the UK and Ireland in early 2016, with pricing still unconfirmed at this time.
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