David Farnor | On 01, Mar 2018

Sky is beefing up its new premium set top box, Sky Q, with a slew of new features – and Spotify is leading the way.

This spring, the world’s leading music subscription service, Spotify, will launch on Sky Q in the UK and Ireland. Along with the recently launched Sky Soundbox, this partnership will offer customers a simple set-up for a high quality home music solution. Customers will be able to use the ad-supported Spotify service for free, or log in to their premium account. Along with Sky Soundbox, customers will be able to augment their existing Sky Q audio services, including the ability to stream to TV speakers via AirPlay or Bluetooth.

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, Sky comments: “Sky Q keeps getting better and better. With this suite of innovation, we are taking the user experience to another level – and we won’t stop there. We will continue enhancing Sky Q and finding new ways to bring customers more of what they love, and in so doing ensure we appeal to every household and every one in that household. With Spotify joining our Sky Q platform, we are giving customers the best home entertainment experience in Europe.”

Beginning next month, Sky will progressively roll out additional product features to improve Sky Q. Greater personalisation based on a household’s viewing habits will ensure customers are served content most relevant to them. At the same time, Sky Q’s Voice functionality will be extended to give customers the ability to ask for personalised recommendations such as “show movies for me”.

The Sports section will be personalised to reflect customer’s favourite sports and teams, seamlessly integrating with the Sky Sports app, ensuring customers always know what’s on and what the latest relevant news is.

In order to create an even better viewing experience, a new, wide-screen, user interface will be introduced and the amount of Ultra HD content available will double this year, with over 1,000 hours of UHD content on Sky, including the whole Spider-Man franchise.

Sky Q will also become a safer place for kids to watch TV with the introduction of a new Kids mode, giving parents peace of mind over what their children can access and watch while at the same time offering a fun environment for younger audiences. The reach and accessibility of Sky Q will also be extended with the ability to stream content to more devices at the same time, plus a Sky Q app will become available on Smart TVs and third party devices.

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