Sky Pivots to IPTV With Sky Stream Puck
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ky Stream ushers in a new era of premium pay TV over IPTV. Steve May, freelance journalist, considers what it means for integrators and viewers.
The Glass platform has also been honed since its original launch. Sky has quietly been issuing firmware updates by the dozen that add features, rearrange the home screen, and fix niggles.
Does the advent of Sky Stream mean the writing is on the wall for traditional set top boxes and video distribution systems?
And yes, Sky Stream is the very same Sky Puck that was first mooted as a multiroom solution for Sky Glass owners.
That certainly seems to be the direction of travel. The diminutive new IPTV box brings Sky’s latest content platform to a much wider audience and is already piquing the interest of the home technology community. Long story short: Sky Stream delivers the entire Sky Glass experience over Wi-Fi to any TV or projector. The box offers all the key Sky linear channels, along with its huge on-demand library, and comes with a host of streaming apps, including Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Disney+, YouTube, Discovery+, Peacock, and Paramount+ . It’s a major play by Sky and parent Comcast to dominate tomorrow’s premium pay TV landscape. For UK consumers, Sky Stream is being touted as the most affordable way to get Sky TV and Netflix together. Combined packages start at £26 a month. There’s the option of a rolling 31-day contract, or an 18-month money-saver. Sky Stream means that clients no longer need a satellite dish to receive Sky’s channel bouquet, or accept the limitations of the Sky Glass QLED TV. One HDMI and you’re good (although infuriatingly, it’s still too bulky to easily park behind wall-mounted screens). Still, there’s much to like. Unlike Now TV, Sky’s other streaming product, the tech specs are solid. The box supports HLG, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos audio.
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Sky remains committed to Sky Q, its hugely successful dish/ IPTV set top box solution, so it’s not like the plug is going to be pulled anytime soon, but it’s clear that all R&D eyes are now focused on IPTV. There are literally millions of potential viewers out there that don’t want, or can’t have a dish, or don’t need a new TV. Sky Stream is their answer. For the broadcast industry, the arrival of Sky Stream is clearly an inflection point, but from an integrator point of view, there remain limitations. For one thing, you can only have six Sky Stream devices on a single account (coupled with a Whole Home pack subscription, a £12 a month supplement). Sky has also confirmed that it has no plans to release the Sky Stream API. Like Sky Glass, Sky Stream runs Entertainment OS, a brand-new co-development of Sky and Comcast. Entertainment OS will form the basis of all IPTV devices from the group and its partners, going forward. The big news is that a comparable streaming device will launch stateside in 2023. Everything you know about TV is about to change…again. Watch this space (no subscription required).