Sky announced a host of updates for its streaming services Sky Glass and Sky Stream, adding new playlist features, tighter integrations with Netflix and additional voice commands for those watching the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Sky explained that the Entertainment OS 1.2 update delivers meaningful “quality of life” upgrades to Sky streamers, making it quicker and easier to navigate through its interface. Sky's streaming services are accessible through its branded Sky Glass TVs, or alternatively through Sky Stream, a dedicated streaming box that works with any TV.
Perhaps the most important update is the improved playlist management capabilities, which help users to better manage the content in their playlists. There’s a new Manage All feature that enables users to see all of their content from various personalised playlists in one place. From there, it’s possible to move different shows between playlists and remove content. Simply select the TV show or movie and then select which playlist you’d like to move it to, or alternatively choose “delete” to get rid of it.
Meanwhile the “Restart from the Show Page” is designed to eliminate the risk of seeing spoilers. Restarting a movie was already possible, but involves first tuning into the programme as it’s being live broadcast, which increases the risk of seeing a spoiler if you tune in at the wrong moment. To get around this, Sky has added the restart button to the Show pages, which means you no longer have to tune in first to restart the show. However, this doesn’t work with all channels. Sky warned that if you try this with any content from the BBC’s live channels, it will instead take you to the iPlayer app where you can play the show from the beginning.
A new “Continue Watching With Netflix” feature does pretty much as you’d expect, allowing you to pick up where you left off on any Netflix show, without having to open the Netflix app itself first. It’s a fairly simple, yet very convenient feature that will enable you to get right back into the show in less time than it used to take.
Finally, Sky said it’s adding voice controls specifically for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, which kicked off at the weekend. Simply utter a phrase such as “Women’s World Cup”, “Lionesses” or “It’s Coming Home” and you’ll be taken directly to a special page that lists the live games, highlights, catch up and league tables.
The beauty of this is that it bundles all of the content from Sky Sports, the BBC and ITV in one place, making it easier to access.
