Hasta La Gadget!

Sky has added yet another feather to their proverbial hat by virtue of being the first company to broadcast live 4K video to folks who live in the UK. It was as recently as October last year when Sky first experimented with Ultra HD, that is, 4k, but it was also during that corresponding time last year when Sky owned just a pair of handheld Ultra HD cameras, placing their staff on an upward learning curve. The past weekend’s Premier League clash between West Ham and Stoke saw another Sky first, where Sky officially became the first UK broadcaster to complete a live broadcast successfully.

This proved to be a fully-fledged live production, where Sky made use of multiple cameras and a full outside broadcast. Before this, UHD sports broadcasts remained under one of the following two categories – they had either been recorded and played back ‘as live’, or distributed via closed-circuit networks, so to take neither of these paths proved that real progress had just happened, and history had just been made. Ultra high resolution bone crunching tackles as well as spectacular goals and saves would make ‘the beautiful game’ all the more engrossing to fans of soccer/football, don’t you think so? [Press Release]

Sky First To Broadcast Live 4K Video In The UK original content from Ubergizmo.

BSkyB may have won the trademark case against Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud service, but there won’t be any renaming going on just yet. Today, the British satellite TV provider has announced that it’s reached an agreement with Redmond, allowing the software giant to temporarily continue using the name SkyDrive while it handles the transition to a new brand. The arrangement, which includes an undisclosed financial settlement, also means Microsoft won’t appeal against the ruling. For now though, you’ll just have to find your own way to tell the services apart, until Microsoft figures out what to call its cloud offering going forward.

Filed under: HD, Microsoft

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It’s fair to say, no one was expecting Sky to release a dedicated streaming box for its Now TV service the same week Google entered the same market. But, it did, and with relative panache, too. Why? Well the hardware it’s using is based on Roku’s popular LT player, and it’s only charging £9.99 for it. That, in itself is a pretty good deal. There are, of course, some caveats. Most notably a custom version of the UI that denies access to certain channels — high profile ones at that. And, of course, it heavily pushes Sky’s own premium channels. Still, for such a low price, with no subscription to Sky’s own services actually needed, could this be the ultimate budget TV box for UK viewers? We compare it to the pure Roku experience to find out.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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BSkyB started investing in Roku last year and it’s leveraged that involvement to develop this new Now TV set-top box. Going on sale today for just £9.99 (including shipping), it brings a rebranded Roku 2 XD (no gaming remote) with software built for Sky’s IPTV platform and a curated list of additional channels. Notably missing from the list are Netflix, Lovefilm, ITV Player, and 4oD, however Now TV (of course), iPlayer, Demand Five, Spotify, Facebook and several Sky channels are included. It gives up a bit in flexibility compared to the standard player, but the ultra-low entry price certainly makes for a compelling option. Roku is facing more competition than ever with new game consoles, Google’s Chromecast and even Apple’s TV ambitions, we’ll see if partnering with traditional providers makes it the “operating system for TVs” CEO Anthony Wood wants it to be.

For Sky, this is just part of a multi-pronged plan to move its TV offerings into the future, detailed in today’s earnings report. Starting in September it will offer a WiFi equipped Sky+HD box to customers as the standard, and low cost wireless adapters to those with older hardware that isn’t already connected. It’s also enhancing Sky Go, with plans to add 10 new channels in the next year while marketing Sky Go Extra more. Finally, it’s adding more content to the Catch Up TV and Sky Store VOD bundle — check the PDF linked below for more details.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Now TV, Sky FY 2013 earnings (PDF)

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