Sky shakes up Sky+ HD TV guide giving equal weighting to live channels and on demand listings
Sky+ HD customers will be introduced to a new electronic programme guide (EPG) from today, in the most significant shake-up since its launch in 1998.
Sky has introduced changes to its Sky+ HD TV guide
The refresh reflects how customers are taking control of their viewer experience and sees on demand, catch up TV, sky store and Sky+ planner now sit alongside channel listings as equal options on the homepage, enabling customers to immediately find their favourite shows, whether live or on demand.
With an average of one million searches taking place per day Sky has also given more prominence to its search function. Searching by title, actor, event, channel, sport or key word will now return the most recent and on-trend suggestions across Sky’s live and on-demand platforms, thanks to technology that collates results based on real-time searches nationwide.
The Sky+ app is also being refreshed to mirror the changes taking place on the Sky+ HD box with a new hompage plus a new highlights carousel. Customer feedback has also prompted Sky to add a new feature to the app which allows customers to use the app to turn their Sky+ HD box on and off directly from their mobile or tablet.
Of the changes, Luke Bradley-Jones, brand director, TV products, at Sky commented: “Our new Homepage means it’s now much easier to quickly find what you want, when you want to watch it - whether that’s the big Premier League clash or catching up on Game of Thrones. The new home page is a really important innovation, putting Sky+ at the heart of the connected home. And there’s even more to come, with a smart new approach to recommendations coming later this year.”
The update will roll out from today and should be available to all eight million Sky+ HD customers by the end of May 2014. To make the most of the new homepage Sky+ HD customers are instructed to connect their box to their home broadband. Further updates are also set to be introduced later in the year.