From the end of the month, Sky customers in Ireland will start to see a brand new TV homepage on their Sky+HD boxes in the most significant shake-up to Sky’s electronic programme guide (EPG) since its introduction at the launch of digital TV in 1998.
For the first time ever, Catch Up, On Demand, the Sky+ Planner and Sky Store will sit alongside channel listings as equal options on a new TV homepage, so that customers will be able to immediately find the shows they most want to watch, whether live or on demand.
With an average 1 million searches per day across Ireland and the UK, a supercharged search box will also take centre-stage on the homepage. Search by title, actor, event, or any key word, and suggestions across all live, recorded and on demand content will appear. The new icons on the homepage will include TV Guide, Planner, Catch Up TV, TV Box Sets, New Series, Best of On Demand, Sky Movies On Demand, Sky Store, and Search.
Alun Webber, Sky’s Managing Director of Product Design & Development, reassured customers that: “Sky’s new electronic programme guide does not mean the death of linear television, it simply looks towards the evolution of TV.”
According to Sky's research, on-demand usage saw a threefold increase in 2013, with 4.4 million Sky customers now using a connected Sky+HD box. With over 40,000 downloads of Chris O’Dowd’s ‘Moone Boy’ episode one reported last month, the imminent innovations are sure to change how customers engage with content. The satellite broadcaster also said that the new design was a reaction to the conventional thinking that pervades most on-demand digital-content players.
In January, Sky launched Ireland’s biggest Catch Up TV Service, which saw the addition of UKTV channels Dave, Gold, Watch and Alibi, on top of established channels such as Sky 1, Sky Living, TV3, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
The new look EPG should be arriving later in the spring, with Sky+HD boxes expected to receive the over-the-air update first.
