New Sky HD EPG being rolled out from today

[satandpcguy]

As mentioned on http://www.satandpcguy.com/forum/sho...mat-on-its-way

Sky has today launched a new enhanced electronic programme guide (EPG) for Sky+ HD customers, bringing a revamped high definition interface and closer integration of video on-demand.

The satellite broadcaster's EPG is used by more than 10m customers in the UK - including 4.22m Sky+ HD subscribers - to access live channels, video on-demand and a range of other services.

Sky said that all customers on average interact with the EPG more than 1.2 billion times every month, meaning its functionality is of key importance.

The new Sky Guide, which starts rolling out to set top boxes from today, brings a number of enhancements to make it easier for Sky+ HD customers to locate and discover new and favourite shows.

The guide has been upgraded to "pinpoint HD graphics", offering a "sharper and sleeker user interface", said Sky.

Navigation has been improved so that the number of channels featured on each page of the guide is increased from six to eight, making it easier to browse through the content.

In the Sky+ planner, new categorised recordings mean that Sky customers can browse through their stored programmes by genre for the first time. Content will be divided into categories such as entertainment, movies, sport, news, kids, music and documentaries.

Luke Bradley-Jones, Sky's brand director of TV Products, said that one of the "key changes" in the new guide is more closer integration of video on-demand content, following the success of Sky Anytime+, Sky's internet-delivered on-demand service that is now available in 5m homes.

New landing pages have been included for each different programme genres. Sky Movies customers, for example, can choose to access live movies, on-demand through Sky Anytime+ or their stored recordings from a single Sky Movies page.

Sky said that the new Sky Guide will roll out in a phased programme to all Sky+ HD boxes by the end of the year.

This started today with Sky+HD 890 and 895 boxes, and will subsequently move on to Pace, Samsung and Sky+HD 780 boxes later this year.

[satandpcguy]

today Sky are beginning to roll out a new-look Sky Guide for customers with Sky+HD boxes. It’s a phased roll-out which will last throughout this year, starting with ten of thousands of boxes from today and expanding to millions more before the end of 2012.

One of the key changes that customers will notice over the next few months is that the design of the pages reflects the increasing popularity of on-demand viewing, following the success of our internet delivered video on-demand service Sky Anytime+, which as of last month is now available to 5 million homes with a Sky+HD box through any internet connection.

Sky Movies customers, for instance, can chose between viewing movies live, watching movies that they’ve previously recorded to their Sky+ planner or on on demand through Sky Anytime+ and renting a film through the Sky Store. There is also a search function available on the page, which allows Sky Movies customers to search for a particular film they may have in mind.



Other changes include a larger number of channels available per page, increasing from six to eight channels, making it easier to Sky customers to browse through content.



Meanwhile, in the Sky+ Planner, customers will have the option to browse through their recordings by genre, so that where previously recorded programmes were displayed chronologically, they are now collected together so that customers can browse through shows belonging to the same genre.



And, on top of this, the whole Sky Guide will also be available in pinpoint HD, delivering sharp graphics consistent with the stunning quality of our HD channels.

[satandpcguy]

A short video produce by Sky showing some of the changes to the Sky HD EPG

[satandpcguy]

Amstrad / Sky 895 digiboxes were updated over the last day or so to the new Sky HD EPG.

So both Amstrad / Sky 895 and Amstrad / Sky 890 digiboxes have been upgraded tot he new Sky HD EPG.

Not everyones will update at the same time, as according to reports Sky are doing weekly roll-outs at 1million boxes per week.

Other Sky +HD boxes will be updated in the coming months