We’ve just received the strongest hint that Sky will launch its 4K channels in time for the new Premier League season.
Speaking at the Connected TV Summit in London this morning, Sky’s director of strategy Nick Herm has said that 4K Ultra HD channels will arrive on Sky Q ‘in time for the summer,’ reports Digital TV Europe.
Sky Sports 4K Ultra HD demo: First impressionsWhile that’s not a concrete ‘yes’ we would be very surprised, given that pay TV rivals BT stole a march by launching BT Sport Ultra HD last summer, that Sky would not get its 4K offering ready in time for the new footballing season.
At the launch event for Sky Q, Sky’s director of new products Andrew Olson said that 4K sports channels would be launching ‘later this year’, alongside 4K movies and entertainment offerings, but declined to elaborate further.
Now TV Smart Box: Summer launch date and low price teased
At the same event, Herm also hinted that the Now TV Smart Box – which looks like a hybrid Roku 4 and Freeview set-top box – would also be arriving in the summer, hitting shelves with a low, low price.
While Herm failed to go into details, he said that the price would be ‘very low’. Previous Now TV Boxes, essentially re-skinned Roku hardware with a Now TV logo, have gone on sale for £10 and £15.
It’s currently unclear if the Now TV Smart Box will come with a hard drive, allowing for recording of digital terrestrial TV content or if it’ll be a driveless ‘zapper’ box. All we know so far is that it’ll offer access to free-to-air digital TV channels and pay TV content.
The news comes just as Sky’s begun to sell its connected TV service Sky Q to non-Sky Broadband customers. Previously, you could only sign up for Sky Q if you were prepared to take Internet services from Sky.
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