Sky Player Growing, Access TV Through your PC!

BSkyB is adding six more live streaming channels to the Sky Player online pay TV platform it relaunched in December. With the addition of UKTV’s Eden and GOLD, National Geographic Wild and Sky’s own Sky Real Lives and Sky Movies Screen 1 and 2, Sky Player is now becoming an internet counterpart to the premium satellite offering that has been Sky’s core for the last 20 years. On-demand director Griff Parry told us Sky’s plans for the future…

For those who are Sky satellite subscribers, Sky Player is all about place-shifting - free to those who also take broadband or multiroom, the service’s 18 live channels are available not just in rooms beyond the lounge, but anywhere there is an internet connection; there’s also VOD content from across 23 TV channels, too.

Though Sky Player is currently available only on computer screens, the idea is to do “Sky TV to devices that aren’t (just) set-top boxes”: “As we enhance Sky Player, we will expand it to devices linked to TVs. The range of devices will extended over time, just as iPlayer has extended…” Just like the BBC’s player, Sky’s roadmap includes games consoles and mobile - “both are definitely in our plans”.

Sky already has a relationship with Sony  to offer shows to PSP handhelds, so one can at least imagine Sky Player being delivered to Playstation 3, though this wasn’t confirmed. The satcaster already offers live channels via mobile operators.