Sound & Imaginative and prescient: Is the Puck the Sky Glass MVP?

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Like several good movie or TV present, Sky saved most observers in suspense about what its first TV would entail. We had an inkling of what might be coming, however after the announcement, what piqued my curiosity wasn’t the TV itself however one other streaming gadget – the Sky Stream puck.

This field takes the Sky Glass expertise and transfers it over Wi-Fi to a different display. It’s small, it’s good and just like the TV itself, it weans the Sky platform off the satellite tv for pc dish.

However the issue is you may’t purchase the Sky Stream puck individually, at the very least, not the UK. Whereas it could actually function independently of a Sky Glass set it isn’t obtainable by itself and that looks like a missed alternative.

At its core, Sky Glass is an try to rewire the TV panorama. It appears to be like to do one thing completely different, bringing innovation with its subscription mannequin and the flexibility to commerce up such as you would a smartphone.

The present state of the TV market is one the place selection is king. We get a variety of TVs with differing talents within the hope that clients discover a set that fulfils what they’re in search of, however all that selection will be overwhelming.

Whereas Sky Glass intends to simplify that course of, it’s nonetheless a TV, and there are benefits and downsides to Sky’s method. It would actually have curiosity to these after a extra handy TV expertise, however for these after the very best efficiency, Sky Glass simply isn’t seemingly for you.

Which leads me again to the puck. Free of a bodily TV and reliant on simply the web, the puck is what I might have favored to Sky to promote me on as an alternative. The puck is just about what Comcast’s XiOne is providing in the US.

And to cite what I wrote on this column a number of weeks again: “Think about if Sky did that? For many who don’t desire a field however do need the Sky expertise, plus the opposite apps on the platform, for a month-to-month sub. Think about if the NOW service streamed in 4K quite than requiring a ‘Increase’ plan to look at in HD? Sky has content material that’s not as simply obtainable elsewhere with its Sky Atlantic and Comedy channels. If the streaming wars are being outlined by content material, Sky has loads of it.”

The choice of getting the Sky expertise and all it entails may have been hook, line and bought for a lot of. The puck may have been Roku by the use of Sky (ironic, since Roku helped with the NOW TV streamers) – and that might have introduced the only, most uncomplicated type of Sky with the widest enchantment.

So despite the fact that Sky Glass may change the panorama of the TV market, it’s an if for the time being, not a certainty. Regardless of Sky claiming the normal mannequin of promoting TVs is difficult, it too maybe suffers just a little from its personal conventional considering of not uncoupling the Sky Stream puck from the TV.

There’s no doubting Sky Glass is an attention-grabbing idea, however it is likely to be time for Sky to recognise that it has one thing higher on its arms with the puck.

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