Sky to replace satellite dishes and boxes with smart TV sets

Published

3 years ago

October 6, 2021

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Sky is launching a new smart television called Sky Glass which aims to declutter homes by binning set-top boxes and satellite dishes while giving customers access to their favourite films and shows.

The streaming TV integrates all of the hardware and software otherwise spread out across living rooms, including sound-bars, into a device with just a single wire and one plug.

It comes as the company moves to solve what it sees as a consumer frustration with content as well as hardware being spread out across numerous gadgets and digital platforms.

Available in five colours and three sizes (43″, 55″, and 65″), Sky Glass is the first major product launch from the company since it was acquired by Comcast for £29.7bn in 2018.

It has a 4K UltraHD Quantum Dot display, using nano-crystals that offer an upgrade on the range of colours (over a billion shades according to Sky) and brightness available on the screen.

In keeping with the move to declutter, Sky Glass also does away with the need for a nest of electronics cables for their audio, with six integrated speakers and a sub-woofer.

The launch comes as companies like Sky figure out how to manage the competition from streaming services such as Netflix and Disney.

To this end the company expects to invest in more Sky Originals such as Gangs of London and Chernobyl, and is building a new 32-acre TV and film studio at Elstree in Hertfordshire.

But it’s also making it easier for people who want the content available on competitors’ platforms to access that programming though its own devices.

This began with Sky Q, a box that aggregated terrestrial and subscription broadcast content alongside digital streaming services.

That same capability is now inside Sky Glass, allowing consumers to access content from Sky, BBC iPlayer, Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, ITV Hub, All4, Spotify, Peloton and others using a single remote or its voice-activated interface.

Speaking at an event to mark the launch of the device, group chief executive Dana Strong said: “Sky Glass is the streaming TV with Sky inside, providing the total integration of hardware, software and content.

“Built on over 30 years of understanding what our customers want, this is a TV that only Sky could make. We believe this is the smartest TV available, and that customers will love it.”

The company also plans to launch a 4k smart camera next year that will pair with Sky Glass and allow people to watch films together, play games, workout and join in calls.

Sky has committed to being Europe’s first net-zero carbon entertainment company by 2030, and Sky Glass is the world’s first television to be certified as carbon neutral.

It also has energy-saving features including auto-switch-off and has completely recyclable packaging, according to the company.

Consumers will be able to either buy it in one go or to spread the cost with interest-free monthly payments in the same way they do when purchasing a mobile phone.

Sky Glass will be available from £13 per month for the 43″ screen, but consumers will also need a Sky TV subscription, taking the cost to £39 per month.

The 55″ screen is available for £17 a month, and the 65″ screen for £21 a month on top of the Sky TV subscription, and all three will begin retailing from 18 October.

The full price is £649 (43″), £849 (55″) and £1049 (65″).

The company says that all of the Sky Glass models come with a full two-year warranty and a free delivery service that includes unboxing and packaging removal.

It was separately announced that Australian pay TV firm Foxtel would be the new system’s first syndication partner.

Asked whether this was an attempt by Sky to muscle in on the TV manufacturing market Brian Roberts, Comcast’s chief executive and chairman, told Ian King Live: “We’re going to be able to licence our technology all over the world.

“We are pleased to have Foxtel joining on this launch date.

“It’s a journey we’re on but it’s more than just the actual physical television.

“In fact that’s what’s so great about the product is, the physical television is maybe the smartest in the world, but it’s what’s behind it that makes that claim so true and that we can do with others over time as well.”

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Entertainment

Glastonbury: Coldplay joined by surprise guests for history-making fifth headline set

Published

7 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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Glastonbury: Coldplay joined by surprise guests for history-making fifth headline set

Coldplay have become the first act in history to headline Glastonbury five times – playing a record-breaking set to a huge, sparkling audience for whom it felt like coming home.

Thousands in the crowd will no doubt have seen them at least once here before, but no matter – they have their detractors, but you cannot argue with the fact Chris Martin’s band can put on a headline performance worthy of Worthy Farm.

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis was among the special guests watching stage-side as they performed to a crowd stretching way back into the night, and they were also joined by stars and musicians including rapper Little Simz on stage.

Theirs was a celebration not just of their own significant achievements, as one of the most successful British bands in recent history, but of Glastonbury festival and the talent it has supported throughout the decades.

But the biggest surprise came from Hollywood legend Michael J Fox, who appeared on guitar for the rousingly emotional Fix You as the penultimate track. It’s a song and a performance even the hardest hearts could not fail to be moved by.

Backstage, Tom Cruise was among the fans watching as fireworks lit the sky.

Having handed out their traditional Coldplay LED wristbands before the set was under way, this was a gorgeous light show and epic sing-along of audience participation as the band performed hits starting with Yellow, where it all began, and continued through their extensive back-catalogue.

“I look around and I just see amazing, wonderful people from all over the place and that’s what makes Glastonbury the greatest city on Earth,” Martin told the crowd, in a set featuring songs including Higher Power, Clocks, Viva La Vida, The Scientist and My Universe, which the band recorded with K-pop boy band BTS, with lyrics sung in both English and Korean.

Earlier in the day, Kasabian had been worst-kept secret of the festival with their surprise set, which led the Woodsies area to be closed off as the crowd grew in anticipation.

And at the Other Stage, The Streets’ Mike Skinner entertained fans with a crowd-surfing set – with Friday night headliner Dua Lipa spotted in the crowd, making good on her promise to enjoy the festival for the full weekend as a punter, as well as one of its biggest stars.

But Saturday night belonged to Coldplay. This was their first Pyramid Stage headline appearance since 2016 and their fifth in total, meaning they now overtake The Cure, who have headlined four times.

When the band was announced by festival organisers earlier this year, the news was met with the same criticism the band have faced for years: the music is dull, the choice of headliner uninspired, jokes about Martin turning up everywhere here, etc etc.

Similar will no doubt have been tweeted out during their set. The answer is simple, though: those who don’t like them, don’t have to watch them.

There’s plenty else going on at Glastonbury to keep people entertained, whether you’re here soaking it all up in person, or following on TV at home.

The size of the Coldplay crowd says it all – they put on an epic show, and this is why they were chosen to headline Glastonbury once again.

Entertainment

Glastonbury: Controversial Irish-language rappers draw ‘headline-worthy’ crowd against the odds

Published

9 hours ago

June 29, 2024

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Glastonbury: Controversial Irish-language rappers draw 'headline-worthy' crowd against the odds

In a morning timeslot when most respectable Glastonbury-goers would usually be in bed, Irish-language rappers Kneecap drew what stage organisers described as a headline-worthy crowd to the area.

The trio have built a name for themselves with a balance of socially conscious lyrics and satire but have really come to the fore in recent months after taking legal action over a UK government decision to block funding they had been granted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Often described as controversial, there is no doubt they are unafraid to say what they think – but argue they are simply speaking up for the deprived areas of Northern Ireland, in a language which is “often ignored”.

Plus, there is a lot of tongue firmly in cheek here.

Three friends from Belfast, Kneecap are Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh, a former teacher who still wears a balaclava initially put in place to disguise himself from his students).

One of their most famous tracks, Get Your Brits Out, has been criticised for being anti-British – but the trio say this is the biggest misconception about the band. And clearly, as it blasts out from a tent in the English countryside, it is loved by the Glastonbury crowd.

“This is a thing that people love to spin, like we’re some anti-British band,” says Mo Chara, speaking to Sky News following their successful set. “We have English family. We have loads of good friends who call themselves British. It’s the British government we don’t like.”

They come from a “serious” area of the world where there has been “drama, a lot of violence”, he says.

“I think we’re the first generation… because we came after the ceasefire or just before it, around that time – ceasefire babies, as people like to call us – […] we’re able to joke about these things that were once traumatising for people in our community.

“But every side of the community can take a joke and we don’t give people enough credit, that people know how to have a laugh.”

“I think being offended is subjective,” says Móglaí Bap. “We’re having a good time, a bit of craic. There’s a lot of fun with it and all these jokes, humour, it’s all in context, and you can take it out of context and get offended. But I think genuinely, we meet people from all walks of life and they enjoy it.”

Unsurprisingly, the trio have locked horns with quite a few politicians.

At the minute, they are embroiled in a legal battle with the British government over the blocking of £15,000 in funding from the Music Export Growth Scheme, which aims to help UK music groups market themselves abroad.

It’s a “slippery slope” and sets a “bad precedent”, says Móglaí Bap, to only give funding to artists that “align with them… that doesn’t make any sense”.

They are all taxpayers, he adds, and therefore have “every right” to funding that is available to British artists.

A government spokesperson says they are unable to comment due to this being an election period, but the Department for Business and Trade’s decision at the time was that Kneecap’s Republican views made them ineligible.

While they await the outcome of the legal case, the rappers are busy performing following the release of their second album, Fine Art, earlier this month, and are also looking forward to their big-screen debut.

The band members play themselves in a biopic about their rise to prominence, set in post-Troubles Belfast, also starring Irish actor Michael Fassbender. The film has been shown at festivals including Tribeca in New York, and the band say the reaction has been “crazy”.

Which all means it looks like the fanbase will expand even more when the film is released in the summer.

So while some politicians may fail to see the funny side of Kneecap, there are plenty of young people in Belfast, Glastonbury and beyond who clearly enjoy their irreverence.

Entertainment

Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Published

1 day ago

June 29, 2024

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Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Dua Lipa has set the bar high for this year’s Glastonbury headliners, performing a slick set of hits to an enormous crowd at the festival’s famous Pyramid Stage.

The 28-year-old star told fans she had manifested the moment, but watching her command the stage – hit after hit played, voice soaring, dance moves effortless – it seems her talent was always going to bring her here.

Starting with Training Season, from her latest album Radical Optimism, Lipa kept the energy levels high throughout for tracks including Be The One, Levitating, Hallucinate, One Kiss, Physical, New Rules and Don’t Start Now.

As is Glastonbury tradition, fireworks lit the sky, during and after the set, while several costume changes also added to the sense of occasion – which the singer described as “the maddest night of my life”.

Telling the crowd about manifesting the experience, she also hinted she would be staying on at the festival to enjoy the rest of the weekend (although probably not in a tent, I’m guessing).

“I have written this moment down. I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt, I’ve worked so hard in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll get to do it and I can’t believe I’m here,” she said.

“You know when I wrote it down, I was very specific, I said I really wanted to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night because then I knew I could party for the next two days in the best place on Earth.

“I’m so grateful, little me would just be beside herself right now.”

Lipa’s performance included Cold Heart, her Sir Elton John collaboration, which saw her greeting delighted fans at the front of the crowd, who had no doubt been there for hours beforehand to save the spot.

She followed another Glastonbury tradition by bringing out a surprise guest – Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, to perform The Less I Know The Better from his band’s 2015 album, Currents – and teased Barbie’s Dance The Night during one of her several costume changes.

The star also showed awareness of the festival audience, with 90s rave imagery on screens and confetti cannons blasting rainbows.

It’s something some big acts can get wrong – to go down in Glastonbury headlining history, it needs to be more than just an extra tour show.

At times, however, the set was so slick, it felt more geared to the TV audience than to the crowd – a couple of songs saw Lipa performing to the camera, back to the audience, for good chunks of time – but when the choreography is this good, it’s captivating to watch wherever you are. It’s a small complaint.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis had said beforehand that Lipa was “born” to headline.

By the time the star had closed the set with Houdini, she had proved her absolutely right.